Bahamas

Hello Bahamas,

We arrived at West End on Great Bahama Island at 8am on a gloriously warm and sunny day. The crossing had been a little lumpy and the sails were more decorative than useful at times but the Skipper's navigation enabled us to get the boost from the Gulf Stream and we ended up having to slow down so as not to arrive before sunrise. We departed from Fort Pierce and were a little worried as we appeared to be the only boat making the crossing. Did the famous Chris Parker predict something we didn't know about but it was uneventful except for the cruise ships going past with the whiff of delicious cooking ablaze with lights. The biggest stress was arriving at Old Harbour Town Marina there were so many motor cruisers filled up with fuel that it seemed like rush hour. Eventually after an hour of circling we made it to the fuel dock and filled up with 8 gallons which cost $88 U.S. Dollars. Goodbye to cheap fuel then, mainly sailing for us from now on. The pleasant surprise was that the marina which we had been warned was likely to charge $3 a foot only charged $1.75 and $1.50 a second night. Even better is that they are attached to a resort and you get use their facilities, pool, gym, free Wi Fi and cocktails on the beach. A touch of luxury which was most unexpected. Can highly recommend checking in at West End, the immigration officers were friendly and helpful (an added bonus was that one of them looked just like Stringer Bell from 'The Wire'). 

The weather forecast for the next few days was for 15 to 20 knots southerlies and rain so we headed out to find a secluded and protected anchorage. Freya suggested Cave Cay as being a good option so we left Mangrove Cay and headed to the Little Abacos. We left behind 3 other yachts from the cay and had a magnificent sail across the banks at 6 to 7 knots. There was not another boat of any description in sight and some of the area is still unsurveyed, so Visual Piloting Rules are advised. The water is so clear it is quite disconcerting to see the bottom so clearly in 10ft of water but your eyes start to adjust to the changing colours. 

Xmas Day dawned wet and windy. The Skipper happily broke out deck water collection system which worked really well and quickly filled the tanks again. It is certainly one of our more unusual places to have Xmas. It feels very strange not to be able contact our families for Xmas Day to say hello but there is absolutely no cell phone reception. It's more like travelling back in the day when communication was phone boxes and letters. Hard to believe how much has changed even in our lifetime. A happy Xmas to everyone.

Reflections on ICW

Reflections on the ICW

There were times on the ICW in 'Bounty' that it felt like we were trying to control a thoroughbred race horse in a bath tub. For a deep keeled ketch with an 8 foot bow sprit and no bow thrusters she is not your typical candidate for an ICW cruise. Going in and out of marinas, waiting for bridges to open in strong currents, hearing the shallow water alarm going just in the wrong spot were times when the old heart rate had a good work out. Out of the five months we have been cruising we can probably count on one hand the times we had all the sails up and there were definitely times when we envied the trawlers going past with their air conditioner and comfy armchairs but we wouldn't have missed the experience for the world. 

America is such a land of contrasts and we have been very lucky to experience some of the best it has to offer. The kindness and hospitality, the friendships we have made, the stunning scenery are all etched fondly in our memories. The saddest thing has been how the security since 9/11 has changed travelling and the atmosphere of suspicion it has left in its wake. All the different agencies and differing interpretations of the rules make any traveller, especially on a yacht, confused, nervous and sometimes angry. That said, we have been treated extremely well every time we have encountered the authorities, though we could have done with not having to return to NZ for a visa. A warning for anyone wanting to buy a yacht in the States. You can't leave on a private yacht if you entered on the visa waiver system. Guess where we finally found that information two months into our stay? The British embassy website of all places.

Bounty has been a joy to get to know. She backs surprisingly well for a double ender, which has been a blessing on several occasions. Everything is thoughtfully set up for cruising and even with three of us on board we are all able to have our own space and not feel like we are living on top of each other. We also appreciated NOAA's weather system and U.S. Tow and the Coast Guard, not that we needed them in the end but it does give you a lovely feeling of security. 

Highlights have been, in no particular order: South Carolina's deciduous forest and the marsh country, the many dolphins , isolated anchorages, the bird life, squirrels, and manatees.

The best marinas: Lady's Island, Oriental Harbour, Harbour Town

Cities and towns: Oriental, Ananpolis, Bath and Washington NC, Charleston

Best places for boaters: Vero Beach, Ananpolis, Oriental

So, goodbye to the USA for now. It has been a pleasure and a privilege and hopefully we will get to come back and see all the bits we missed.

Florida

It's warm; Freya's new bikini has made its first appearance and the Skipper's shoulder has stopped being a bad weather indicator. Yes, we are in Florida. The slightly scary state that everyone warned us about. The no anchoring, don't touch the sea grass, don't go to Miami, watch out for the authorities, of which there are a huge range with large guns. So far it has been delightful, friendly with lots of wonderful wildlife and not to mention again, warm.

We were sad to leave South Carolina with the beautiful lowlands but the last couple of days there were so cold. We stopped at Beaufort after a cold, miserable day and found the Lady's Island Marina which improved the day immensely. We arrived at the dock with TJ's help and on the next boat looking out through the port hole was a bird. Thus we were introduced to Sam Peck n Poo who had landed on board a year ago and never left. Except occasionally to visit a friend's yacht and be sociable in anchorages.

 The marina is a great spot to stop as is very friendly with TJ a incredibly helpful dock master, groceries close by and a BBC cafe that has the best almond croissants I've had for a long while.

The weather window opened up and we went offshore from Beaufort. 

Freya's first overnight passage on 'Bounty'.

The promised winds never really eventuated so we ended up mainly motoring with wind on the nose most of the way.  We did get about six hours of sailing but needed the staysail and mizzen up most of the way to steady the boat when the ocean decided to do a spirited impression of being a washing machine. 'Gus' the auto helm worked brilliantly and certainly helped with those long night watches. We did 375 nm in just over two days and arrived into Cape Canaveral just as four huge cruise ships were exiting the canal, complete with blaring music, guard boats with machine guns on the front and a festive air. Our favourite was the Disney ship with a large figure of Goofy hanging over the back. 

We finally were brave enough to enter the canal and the lock and to our delight two Manatees entered the lock with us. They proceeded to feed quite happily as the waters rose and then departed through the gates with us, as if the lock was a handy convenience store of stirred up Manatee food. 

All this meant we were later than expected getting to the Harbour Town Marina which we had to find and enter at night. Not an activity to be recommended but we made it, tied up and slept happily in a boat that was blissfully still.

We are now on our way to Vero Beach for final provisions. You know, essentials like soft toilet paper, deodorant, sun screen and chocolate. Hopefully if the weather forecast stays the same we will head off to Bimini on Saturday or Sunday. 

On The Road Again

We left Charleston early Sunday morning. A small craft advisory meant we are sticking to the ICW but hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday we will be able to venture outside and take the fast route to Florida. The skipper is keen to visit Cape Canaveral. It would be wonderful to see a rocket go up but I doubt we will be that lucky.

We had a lovely time in Charleston and the skipper installed our new semi flexible solar panel. The wonderful thing is that being on the bimini you do not even notice it's there. 

Xmas shopping in King Street was very entertaining. One end of the street is full of look but don't touch shops where the price tags rarely descend below three figures. One men's shop had blue jeans, a mere snip at $300 dollars US. Mind you we should have known, not many men's shops have French antique bureau and chess set displayed in their windows. As you walked away from the Gucci, Louis Vuitton end of town the prices were more in the cruising end of the budget. Clothing is certainly very cheap in America and generally good value for money. Though we were very impressed that the up market men's store had a NZ brand Rodd and Gun for sale. The Rue du Jean cafe had great food, especially the dessert. The photo of the chandelier is from inside of one of the cheaper chain stores but what a setting for a clothing store. 

We also found a teeny tiny Xmas tree for the boat.

As I have mentioned before we haven't seen many mammals (apart from humans, of course) but the bird life has been amazing. Yesterday I looked out the port hole at the fog and saw the most disgruntled little brown bird sitting on the flag of the boat next door.  By the time I raced down for the camera and returned his day had gone from bad to worse as the bird in the picture had replaced him. 

The marina was on the edge of the city but had plenty of bird life. Returning from the bathroom late in the evening I disturbed a Night Heron. He looked at me and lumbered off his perch and his squawk of protest sounded definitely like he was swearing at me. It reminded me of the Cockatoo in the Dunedin Gardens Avairy. He had a great repertoire of comments but his favourite was 'fxxxx off'. Obviously some uni student had spent a bit of time coaching him to startle the tourists.

We are now in Steam Boat Creek having wended our way through some of the very tricky shoaled sections of the route by catching high tide. We were doing 8.9 knots with tide at one stage. We anchored early as there is a seven foot tide range at the moment and tomorrow's section is supposed to be one of the worst shoal areas of all. 

Charleston

The city greeted us with a fine sunny day, warmth and a pod of dolphins. What more could you want? 

We approached Charleston with a little trepidation. Would it be as good as everyone said? One of the top five best cities in America. Well, this is day three and we have to agree that it seems to be a city with something for everyone. We are docked at the Charleston Maritime Centre and though a little rolly at times it is a very friendly and well run spot. Free internet, free laundry and a supermarket close by certainly makes provisioning and boat maintenance a dream. 

The cafes and restaurants are also excellent with a wide range of interesting and varied menus, we had a great lunch at Guallant & Michellant which specialises in French vegetarian food. Freya and I also spend a satisfying few hours examining the shops on King Street in detail and managed to add a couple of small items to our respective wardrobes - "Honestly, Skipper I've had this top for years". To be fair the boat is getting a new semi-flexible solar panel, so the crew is also getting new outer wear. 

The most stunning aspect of Charleston is the architecture. Evidently due to the poor post war economy the city missed out on being developed and having multi story building piled one on top of the other. The result is an architectural feast of styles, tree lined streets and gracious parks. I was expecting the historic area to be small and well preserved like Portsmouth or Ananpolis but you can walk for hours here and still be seeing lovely historic buildings.

We did visit one of the city's historic homes, it was a mixed blessing. The mansion belonged to one of the former governors of Charleston. The family were well educated, spoke five different languages, went on the European Grand Tour and collected a respectable collection of art. Underpinning all this activity was eight hundred slaves. The house has been left in the state it was when it was donated in the 1970's. The rooms had been gradually shut up and the interior had suffered quite a lot of damage in Hurricane Hugo. You could imagine what the life style must have been like but the atmosphere of faded and melancholy grandeur underpinned by human suffering left us all feeling rather subdued. As an Australian I am not in any position to criticise other countries behaviour towards people of non European descent but it does remind me that mankind still has a long way to go before we can consider ourselves truly civilised. The events in Ferguson in recent weeks just reinforce that message. 

So, returning to our First World problems, we are thoroughly enjoying being warm. The unseasonably cold weather really was rather tough. It has been a long time since I went to bed in three layers of clothes, a scarf and a woolly hat and still felt the cold. Hopefully the warmer weather will continue as we head south.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day

The ICW has had a variety of experiences in store for us today. We left Cricket Cove Marina and it seemed like not a soul was stirring, except for the poor bridge keepers who were remarkably cheerful for having to work on a holiday. 

The next section of the ICW is dreaded by many as rather than the friendly and forgiving mud bottom this area is lined with rocks. We followed the local advice and Active Captain and stayed in the mid channel and with the right tide had no problems but I could imagine that meeting large barges and casino ships wanting more room would be very stressful. Yes, I did say Casino ships, one of them gave us a hell of a fright as it loomed out of the mist just on dusk as we tried to anchor in Calabash Creek the other night. 

We then had the stretch of Myrtle beach with wall to wall condos and 130 golf courses (not all of them were on the canal, of course). The developments tend to follow a theme, beach side pastel colours, Neo colonial and then one area was so Tuscan we thought we were back in Italy; as you can see by the photos.

A complete change of pace arrived when we entered the Waccamaw River. This lovely winding section of the ICW is bordered by swamps and cypress trees. This was Freya's and my first experience of a deciduous forest in autumn/winter plumage. The spare beauty of the bare skeletal trees festooned with Spanish moss and the sun picking out the last fading colours of autumn in the lower branches. 

We turned off the main river and motored slowly into the tree lined Prince Creek. There is not a man made sound to be heard in the distance. It could almost be the land those early inhabitants experienced. There are so many little bayous which wend their way mysteriously off the main channel, it would be magical to be able to explore them all. In many ways the bad weather which stopped us from sailing down to Charleston on the outside has turned out to be a positive as we are enjoying the beautiful scenery. Mind you it could definitely be warmer. We are admiring the sunset on deck mainly because the Skipper has decided to have another go at the Dickinson stove. 

Thanksgiving Day Photos

South Carolina Bound

South Carolina Bound

We made South Carolina after a long day and with only a few minor showers, not the threatening 100% rain forecast by NOAA. We were enjoying the scenery, lovely autumn colours and marsh grass to the Atlantic Ocean and heading for Calabash creek to anchor. Just one small problem was the bar across the entrance at low tide. Guess what? It was not just low tide but extreme low tide. We knew if we got US Tow insurance we would probably never need it, well we called them but thanks to a large power boat going past at full speed the wake bumped us up and down four times and we got off. So we still haven't needed the tow boat.

A quick retreat was in order and we found Cricket Cove Marina. Even though it was after hours they let us fill up with diesel, water and we happily stayed for the night and will wait here today until the rain stops. Great service and highly recommended.

The weather has been getting warmer, Freya's hot water bottle has been retired, hopefully not to reappear for the rest of the trip. We waited out the storm in Wrightsville Beach and finally saw the Atlantic Ocean. Wrightsville Beach was a good anchorage though the current is quite strong. The supermarket is a decent walk from the dinghy dock but it was good to get out and stretch our legs after four days on the boat. 

We made the ominously named Cape Fear right on time and managed to wend our way through the massive river mouth and the many confusing markers. This is a seriously big river. Lots of River Dolphins who are not as friendly and curious as the bottle nose dolphins we are used to in New Zealand but we still rush to the side of the boat at any sighting and stand wondering where do they go. From here on there are alligators to watch out for and we still haven't seen any raccoons but we live in hope. Its Thanksgiving tomorrow and it does feel odd to be in an English speaking country have no connection to the holiday. In Turkey it was weird in another way to be celebrating Xmas Day with an illicit bottle of wine and take away kebabs. Happy holiday everyone.

Sloth Flight

Slow sloth flight

Compared to yesterday, today we moved at a sloth like pace. Swansboro is a lovely little town but it does have amazing currents. At one stage we were going round in circles so fast it felt like a merry go round ride. The second anchor solved this very quickly, though our fingers were crossed that we would have an easy retrieve in the morning.

One small problem with the cold weather is that the docks have turned the water off so we jerry juggled water cans while filling up with diesel. What a good workout for the arms. As a reward we went to Yana's 50's cafe for hamburgers ( except for the vegetarian in our midst )and root beer floats. Great food and service though going to the bathroom was slightly disconcerting due to be watched by a life sided figure of Elvis - the men's evidently had Marilyn.

This was to be our easy day as we had got further than expected yesterday and we could hear the firing of explosives from Camp Le Jeune which meant no go through that section until they had finished. Picture of a APC just on the side of the canal.

We set off behind a convoy of 4 yachts and a launch on the long straight stretch. As we moved closer to marker 61 the sounds over channel 16 moved from routine to more urgent. Requests for advice on navigating the shoal turned to warnings, to oops, to sorry but we are also stuck. As we got closer the marker was looking like a beach party with yachts and trawlers scattered across the roadway. Discretion being the better part of valour we dropped anchor and waited for high tide.

Freya using the time wisely.

 It was actually a lovely spot and quite entertaining as boats approached the debris field with inevitable results. One captain confidently sailed up to the spot, was warned by radio, replied that he had been through this spot in July. Another skipper said "Good luck boat with red sails" and we all watched with fascination as he came to an abrupt halt. To be fair when the boats cleared away and we approached we did bump on the shoal a couple of times until Jerry showed us the exact angle to get through.

Our new cockpit furniture 

We are anchored at Mile Hammock Bay with all the boats who, like us got held up with shoals and bridges but it is a lovely spot. 

We like to move it

We Like To Move It

After just a tick over 5 weeks in Oriental 'Bounty' slipped from her slip in Oriental Harbour Marina and headed out into the Neuse river. Once again it was very hard to say goodbye to our lovely friends in Oriental. 

We now have refrigeration, our daughter and $700 dollars worth of provisions - thanks to our dear friend John's transport and patience at the supermarket. A lovely White Oak cockpit seat - thanks to Christian. Comfortable and stylist cockpit cushions and repaired sails and cockpit cover - thanks to Robin and Bob at REB sails, plus great memories of awesome food and lots of laughs. We must also mention Deaton's Yacht Service for repairing our packing gland and speedy delivery of a new salt water pump. Mark at the marina for allowing us to stay and the lovely facilities which we can highly recommend. Finally Mike and Nancy - Deaton's Yacht Sales who sold us 'their' favourite boat and have become close friends. Yes, it was very hard to leave as there were lots of other people who gave us rides, advice and entertaining conversation so much that it is impossible to name them all.

Tonight we are tucked up in Swansboro after nearly 10 hours on the ICW, almost 49.5 nautical miles. It was a bitterly cold day and we were in full sets of wet weather gear even though the sun shone brightly all day. Well, once the Skipper and I worked out that his too tight glove and my too big one were due to mismatching the pairs. 

Just outside of Raleigh we encountered a pod of - I think - bottle nose Dolphins and we also saw a sea turtle. They were seriously fishing but managed a few acrobatic manoeuvres to entertain us, the Dolphins, not the turtle who just submerged quietly without fuss.

 

We did come to a sudden stop late in the day at marker 22 just before the bridge, an unexpected shoal caused a quick pirouette and lots of churning mud. We made Swansboro just on sunset, which was spectacular and had fun with anchoring as the anchor bit twice and popped out before finally embedding itself securely. Swansboro looks a lovely little town with a great selection of Xmas lights. It's the first time I've ever had an anchor transit point which it a fairy light shape of a crab. Speaking of Xmas we have started collecting our Xmas decorations for the boat. I know the boat theme is a little obvious but we promise to try and be more creative from now on.

Still Here

Still here

Yep, still in Oriental. It's a hard place to leave. We have made great progress on the wood work and our to do list. Finally after nearly twenty years of boating and coincidentally on our 20th wedding anniversary we have refrigeration. It took two days and five trips to the hardware store but the Skipper succeeded. There wasn't even much swearing involved. This achievement now means a new approach to provisioning and things like ice cream and yoghurt on board. For those of you out there with access to a full sized refrigerator I know it doesn't sound very exciting but if you have lived on dried milk powder for as long as we have it does make a difference. 

Autumn is starting to make itself felt after almost three weeks of glorious warm sunny days. Last night was very windy and cold. The Skipper had to break out the jeans and shoes for the first time in awhile. Several people in Oriental were relieved to discover that we do have cold weather clothing as we have been sticking to shorts and sandals while working on the decks. 

So it is definitely time to head to warmer climes. 

There and back again

Oriental

Well we are back in the U.S.A. It only took seven flights, endless hours in security queues and a bit of a dent in our cruising budget. The interview at the embassy took all of 15 mins and we had the visa the next day. Talk about efficient. We were on our way back two days later. I am seriously over planes and security at the moment even though the officials were all very friendly and helpful. We did stay in the Travelodge at LAX which has a great pool and we were given a room that Howard Hughes and Jane Russell had lived in while filming "The Outlaw".

It wasn't all bad. We were able to spend time with Freya and Downtown Auckland has improved unbelievably. Five years ago the area around Queen Street was a windy desert, especially on a Sunday, nowadays it is vibrant and lively with great shops and cafes. Queens Arcade still has a wonderful tea shop and the walkway down along Viaduct Basin is a successful blend of maritime interest, restaurants and outdoor art installations. Hats off to the council for their investments in the city and preserving the architecture for future generations.

At the moment we are 'parked' in Oriental Harbour Marina to catch up on some maintenance and install refrigeration. That's us, we survive the boiling hot summer months and decide to put in a fridge with winter coming. We have been very lucky so far this week with the weather staying warm and sunny as we scrape and sand the wood work. There is a lot more wood on this boat than you would think. 

Not everything translates easily even when everyone is speaking the same language. Gary called out to a guy we had spoken to the day before. "How's your deck going?" The gentleman in question looked rather startled and said, "What did you say?" "Did you just ask me how my dick was?" Whoops, the perils of the different accents on vowels. It reminds me of that hilarious You Tube clip about NZ deck stain advert. Worth watching. Schaffer's deck sealant. 

Lists

Lists

An important weapon in the sailor's armoury appears to be - lists. Yes, lists. There are wish lists, much like anyone else's; new sails, computer, stove. All things you already have but newer, faster and shiny. Then there is the list of must haves, which gets ticked off on safety grounds. Then there is the list of items that would be useful but not essential. Over the last two months there have been two items on that list. The deck wash pump was all there, we had the hose but not the piece that connects the two. In every chandlery we have visited (believe me, there have been a few) we have looked at the kit. The piece we wanted was only $14 dollars but they only stock the whole kit worth $110. Call us cheap but each time we balked at the price, so soldiered on with dirty decks from the anchor. We could have organised a mail order, but our success rate on this has not been good, somewhere there is a camera cable waiting for us in a post office, not the one we visited though. Finally in Annapolis we cracked and brought the whole kit and in Broad Creek the Skipper fitted it. Bliss. Clean decks and when the mayflies appeared we were able to wash them away. 

Finally the two items on our useful but not vital list have been solved. Unfortunately this afternoon when removing the auto helm the little steel piece that holds the arm in place popped out, hit the running rail and disappeared gracefully over the side, never to be seen again and therefore onto the list it goes.

There is only one thing worse and that is the sailor who reaches the shore and forgets the list. 

We made to Oriental to a warm welcome from John, Mike and Nancy. We had some great sailing, northerlies 10 to 15 knots most of the way from Albermarle Sound. Mike and Nancy have kindly allowed us to tie up on their impressive dock, no splinters on this one, while we are away. When we get back John has arranged for us to stay in the Oriental Harbour Marina which is a bit closer to town for parts and bits and pieces. So lovely to have such kind and caring friends. While we are in Broad Creek we are keeping our eyes peeled in the hope of seeing otters, bobcats and the like. Not too sure about the Black Bears unless I'm safely on a boat.

Aground

We are safely tucked up in Broad Creek North Carolina after negotiating eight bridges and one lock. Most people consider the trip south a fairly boring and predictable experience. However we saw great wildlife today, including Bald eagles and had our adrenaline levels tested.

As I said, we safely negotiated all the bridges from Norfolk and having found a long straight stretch on the  North Landing River and the wind having picked up to a 15 knot northerly we put up the genoa and main and were making 6 knots. All was well until I decided to make lunch. Fatal mistake. Up ahead the AIS identified a barge. The skipper knowing the channel was narrow, furled the genoa and started the motor. The 300ft corp of Engineers barge was stationary across the 50 ft wide channel and they indicated we should pass to the stern. This was a bit of a worry as he was pretty close to the green marker but we assumed he knew where to direct us. Wrong. We ran aground and the skipper of the barge yelled across that he was also stuck aground. Now we are less than 10 ft from the back of an enormous steel barge with the wind behind us and a full main. Gary managed to drop the main downwind and we wriggled and bumped our way forward with the genoa unfurled trying very hard to avoid the large object to our right. Having a great engine, a protected propellor and brass keel strip is wonderful. Again we thanked Billy Atkin for his brilliant design as we broke free of the mud.

The guy on the barge said stick close to the green markers from here, so we cautiously continued with at times with less than 1.8 ft beneath our keel for the next 3 markers until the depths improved. The marker to watch out for was G91 for anyone out there. 

It always happens when we put the kettle on for a brew and all hell breaks lose. Maybe we should change to coffee. The only damage was to the genoa which ripped on the UV strip. Robyn, if you are reading this, we have some work for you !!!!!

We are in quiet solitude tonight surrounded by wild marshes and totally calm with the northerly blowing outside in the main channel. 

Lumps, bumps and things that go squeak in the night

We left Annapolis early and shot out of the river in a chilly but lively breeze and had a lovely sail until about 5 pm just off Solomon's Island. The rest of the sail was not quite so enjoyable but we sailed through the night and made Norfolk about 2pm the next day after 150 nautical miles.

However we learned some things.

1. When the right sequence of sheets are pulled the Jiffy reefing systems really does reef - in a jiffy. 

2. Mast spreader lights are a wonderful invention

3. 'Bounty' handles brilliantly even under very trying conditions

4. Down below was an oasis of calm and warmth and both Gary and I went down at different times to have a rest. The problem was that lying in the sea berth, just about to drop off, when a horrendous groaning would start up, it sounded like something out of a Hammer Horror film. You'd get up, check the table and all around in the dark but nothing seemed loose. Recline again and it would start again. Both of us were mystified as to the source until we noticed that the port side berth would start slowly creeping out and then stop and every time we got up we automatically pushed it back to get past. Much relief not to have some sort of vampire dwelling in the bilge.

At about 5.30am I was on watch and even though conditions were rough and there was still a long way to go the promise of dawn was comforting. It came with a sudden separation of sea and sky and the promise of light and warmth. In the modern age we have AIS, GPS, radar and all sorts of night penetrating gizmos but the sun is still a wonder. Nearly every ancient group of mankind had a name for the sun. The Greeks had more than one, Apollo and Helios and I always wondered whether they time shared the chariots - odd thoughts from the late hours of the night.

We surfed into Norfolk harbour with the sounds of people calling the Coast Guard about sinking and overturned boats. No doubt all seduced like us by the weather forecast of 15 to 20 knots and 1 to 2 foot seas only to discover that the sea was more like a mix master than a mill pond.

Our reward for all this was to catch up with Steve, Bob and Judy, all of us back at Rebel Marina - well we were anchored outside and Dave once again kindly let us dock the dinghy. We repaired to the Thirsty Camel and were initiated into Football Sunday. I finally am starting to understand American football. We had a great time and hopefully we will meet again in the south.

Goodbye Ananpolis

We say goodbye to Annapolis and begin a mad dash down the Chesapeake (weather spirits permitting) to take our return flight to NZ. This will not only allow us to see our lovely daughter but to see the relevant authorities so that we can come back and continue our journey.

We have had a lovely time here and the harbour master and team, especially Stan have been wonderful. Thoroughly recommend the city for entertainment, good food/wine, beauty and friendliness.

Another aspect that has kept us guessing is how large a boat can you fit into a small space. Each time we thought we had seen the biggest super yacht possible approaching the harbour and being fitted into a berth, an even larger and more elaborate one would appear. I can't imagine what it would be like during the Boat Show. 

10 Things We Love About Annapolis

1. Fawcetts Chandlery - Bill, Rob and crew who know the meaning of exceptional service and are not an anodyne chain store.

2. Reynolds Tavern. Selling wine and spirits since 1747 but we loved the afternoon tea. Scones, tea cakes and a selection of great teas. The last time we had something like that was in Istanbul in the Pera Palace, though not the scones it must be said.

3. The HarbourMaster and crew. Reasonably priced mooring balls, with bathroom facilities and laundry on shore.

4. The Model Room at the Naval Academy - not that kind of model but ship's models. An stunning collection from 1650 to the 1800's. Never seen anything like it before and the informative displays were an asset to a deeper understanding of these amazing works of art.

5. The Architecture. Beautifully preserved and used streets of historic buildings 

6. The Bookshop - somewhere near Prince George street. 

7. The food in Annanpolis smaller portions and different. Chick and Ruth for the atmosphere and the great milk shakes and the Catering company for Eggs Benedict

8. For conversations that indicate that the ideals of Adams and Jefferson are still alive and well.

9. The State House and standing where Washington resigned his commission.

10. The great fireworks display that was a total surprise to us.

It's been hot, hot, hot.

This is supposed to be autumn but I suspect the same as almost everywhere the week everyone goes back to school the weather is beautifully sunny and hot. All those blisters from new school shoes. We had a trip down memory lane with our visit to St Mary's City. This is a great spot to anchor and the recreation of Maryland's first settlement is well worth visiting. The replica of The Dove smells and looks so authentic, all that tar and caulking, plus they have a working Signalling Cannon. You can also have meals in the St Mary's College dining hall which reminded us so much of our Uni days, though the food selection was much broader and included an ice cream parlour like set up which Howitt Hall never had. 

We left St Mary's to sail to Solomons Island and had a pleasant sail until we encountered a swarm of black flies - which bite. This went on for 3 hours. I'm glad there were no other boats around because anytime the skipper left the cockpit and I was helming I was waving my legs around like a mad 1920's flapper doing the Charleston. Up till now I thought the sand flies in Fiordland were the worst non lethal biting pest but these came pretty close, though they don't crawl in your ears, so I guess that's a bonus.

Solomons Island has more marinas in a small space than seems physically possible. There was very little space to anchor and everything is totally geared to marina living, not not really our cup of tea. However the Calvert Maritime Museum was well worth visiting. They have one of the best fossil collections I have ever seen, including a mega shark and it is really effectively displayed. Plus two very cute otters, one of which was reclining on a hammock in the heat. The otters have been together for 10 years but are having a marital dispute at the moment and are not talking to each other except in hisses and teeth baring. The lighthouse was also amazing, especially when you consider the family of seven children who grew up there in that tiny space miles off shore.

Today we had a great sail to Rhode River, though it was extremely hot. We anchored and then watched a huge kick ass thunderstorm build around us. We seem to have missed the worst of it and are currently enjoying the first rain we have had since Belhaven, this also gives us a chance to check repairs to the butterfly hatch which was fixed weeks ago but not yet tested.