It’s Monday morning and we are about 80 miles from the entrance to the St Mary’s River in GA.  We are powering along on seas so calm you’d think that we were in LI Sound on a windless August afternoon.   At our current speed, we should arrive in the mouth of the river around 10pm tonight to begin our run up the river and the town of St Mary’s.

Our plan is to head up and drop the anchor and spend the day in the river prior to heading over to have Pandora hauled in a nearby yard.

Yesterday we saw a few dolphins but none stayed near  the boat long enough to get pictures.  However, this morning, we were treated to a visit that lasted nearly a half hour during which several dolphins swam in front of our bow for quite a while.  At the peak, we had a dozen jockeying for position in front of us , darting in all directions and sometimes jumping clear of the water.

The water here is so clear that we could see their every movement as they darted around our bow.  I was able to get some terrific videos of their antics and will put an edited version on YouTube when I get home.  What a treat.

Speaking of treats, last night I cooked half of the tuna we caught yesterday.  I have to say that you haven’t tasted tuna unless you’ve had it cooked within an hour or so of being caught.  The flesh was a deep red and was nearly as firm as a good filet minion but when you take a bite, it melts in your mouth.  Amazing.  They say that everything tastes better aboard so Imagine the best tuna ever, on a boat.  Ambrosia.

I sautéed a mess of onion, set that aside and then seared the tuna only enough to cook it about ¼ through and get it warm in the center.  Then, I set that aside and reduced some teriyaki sauce that I had in the pantry as a glaze.   Jim and I had our fill, along with a nice salad.  I will spare you a photo of the dish as my son Rob is so sick of “photos of friend’s meals on FaceBook” that he only looks at it once a week.  Now that I have him looking at my blog, sometimes at least, I don’t want to do anything that will drive him away.

“Rob, it was great but you’ll just have to imagine what it looked like”.  Yum…

As is so often the case when I am making an offshore run, we were visited by a little bird for a while yesterday afternoon.  He/she landed in the cockpit and flitted (I guess that’s an apt description of what he did) from place to place aboard, including a brief visit down below.  Fearing that he’d poop everywhere, which he sort of did, I scooped him up gently in my hand and put him back out in the cockpit, where he stayed for a while before heading who knows where.

At one point he landed on Jim’s leg and looked around.  Interestingly, it seems that every bird that lands aboard is of the same species.  Last spring we had a visitor overnight that expired and had to be given a burial at sea.   Fortunately, yesterday’s visitor left prior to meeting an untimely end, if he did.  I hope that he made it “home” wherever that is.

Well, Pandora’s engine continues to drone along as it has now for over 24 hours as there isn’t any wind at all.  Did I say that the water is very calm?   Thought so.

Today’s sunrise was a spectacular show on the glass calm ocean.

We decided to fish again.   I hope that we catch another tuna but hopefully, nothing too big.  Small or large, they bleed a LOT and a small bleeder is certainly better than a BIG BLEEDER.  Wish us luck.

It’s Sunday mid-day and we have been underway since 07:00.  The seas are running about 4′ but dropping as the wind that we enjoyed for the first 5 hours is beginning to die.  I was hoping that Chris Parker, the weather router, was wrong about the wind dying when I spoke with him on Saturday but his prediction was that we’d get a good start but that the wind would go away around noon.  Chris, you are right, yet again.   Bummer for that…

Yesterday was very windy and not from a good direction and he recommended that we wait till this morning to venture out so that the seas could lay down.    The bad news is that he also predicted that the wind would also “go away” by noon Sunday.   In this case, I wish that he wasn’t right so much of the time.

Today’s forecast calls for wind under 10kts from the north, not nearly enough wind to keep us moving toward our destination.    For Pandora to sail well, she needs about 10kts apparent and with that she does quite nicely.

So, a bit ago, we gave in and turned on the engine and pulled the sails in a bit.  Happily, there is still enough wind to keep the sails filled and steady us a bit as we move along at between 6.5 and 7kts.

After some motoring I decided, since it was so calm and such an easy day, to break out the fishing gear. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with fishing.  On the one hand, it’s fun to catch a fish but on the other hand, you have to do something with whatever you catch.  And, on top of all that, you don’t know what you’ll catch and it might be alarmingly large…

Anyway, I decided that the best strategy was to use a small lure with the idea of “small lure, small fish”.    Happily, after about an hour of trolling off of the back of the boat, we were rewarded by a nice, not too big, tuna.  I don’t know what sort it was but it sure had a lot of blood for such a modest sized fish.

Interestingly, tuna are warm blooded.  Although, not as warm as mammals, they are decidedly warmer than the water that they swim in. I understand that they have evolved into warm blooded fish so that they can sustain the sort of fast swimming and aggressive hunting that they are famous for.  This guy put up quite a fight.  I reeled him/her in and Jim did a great job with the gaff, getting the fish on board.

I cleaned him up right away (he was still warm, and pretty bloody) and froze half, one filet for tonight.  No frozen lasagna tonight.   Mmmm…

Enough fishing for today as I don’t have the energy to clean another one.   We are still moving along nicely and at this rate, we will arrive at the mouth of the St Mary’s river around midnight on Monday.

I can’t say that I am thrilled about heading into an unfamiliar entrance in the dark but the channel is very well maintained and marked with lighted buoys to accommodate the Navy and their submarine base, so getting up the river will be pretty straight forward.
Once we leave the main channel to head up to the town of St Mary’s, we’ll have to be more careful.  There are lighted markers but the river is pretty windy and we’ll likely be a bit tired after the crossing. The good news, is that once we are there it will be early enough for us to get a good night sleep.  Tuesday will be spent getting Pandora ready to haul in the local boatyard where she will spend the next three months on land prior to Brenda and I rejoining her in early January.

Speaking of the boatyard, the St Mary’s Boatyard, as it’s aptly named, is run by a guy named Rocky and while I have heard that he has a nice operation, I haven’t been able to get him on the phone for a few days to alert him that I am headed his way.  Yes, we talked a few months ago, but I sure hope that he has gotten my messages and e-mails and is ready for our arrival.

Well, at the very least, I can just show up at his dock when I get there.  I expect that will get his attention.

So, that’s about all I have to report as we are now about 30nm from shore and there’s nothing but unbroken horizon in all directions.  And, the temperature is very nice in the sunny 60s, a far cry from a brisk 45 in the cabin when I got up this morning.

Don’t forget, I’ll be posting my position in “where’s Pandora” every four hours.

Here’s to smooth “motor-sailing” the rest of the way to St Mary’s.

It’s Saturday evening and it l0oks like the wind will FINALLY turn in our favor for a departure out of the Cape Fear River on Sunday morning, early.

We were going to leave today but there were strong winds that were stubbornly blowing from the south, the exact direction that we will be heading.  Heading into the wind offshore is definitely not cool.  Better to wait for favorable winds.  Yes, that’s for me.  Totally…

So, instead of heading out today, we stopped in Southport NC, and tied up in a very nice marina to wait for favorable winds.  I normally don’t spring for a slip in a “real”marina, but today I was tired from days of motoring down the ICW and decided to pay for a night with the “big kids”.

I went for a walk with my crew Jim to see the sights.  The town is very pretty with impressive historic homes framed by massive live oaks.  Very southern.Well, it was a good decision to stop here and get a slip in the marina as it seems that this place is clearly “where it’s at” with a big time fishing tournament going on with literally hundreds of boats competing to see who could catch the biggest king mackerel.    With so many participants on the prowl, someone actually caught one that bested the record books for North Carolina, at least, at more than 50lbs.

The tournament is a big deal and I guess that there are thousands in prize money, perhaps many thousands, so the event attracted folks from far and wide.

This photo is of one of the “little guys” that was perhaps half the size of the winning fish.  These are pretty big fish. Not like the little mackerels that I caught when I was a kid.  And, the boats that go out to catch them are plenty powerful with some in the 30+ foot range with 900hp to push them along at staggering speeds.  As this shot shows, there were lots folks that showed up to see what Who caught what.  Some of the boats had all sorts of sponsor signs on them.  I guess that fishing is a big deal here.This is a shot of the winning fish that were displayed in a case lined with crushed ice.  To give this some scale, the winning fish was something like 6′ long.  That clearly qualifies as a “king” mackerel. I was told that each fish is weighed and then cut open to be sure that the “catcher” hasn’t stuffed the fish with lead shot or something else that will make the fish heavier.  I guess when there’s competition and big money to be had, there’s folks that will cheat.  “honest, I have no idea how that ten pound lead chunk got into the fish’s stomach”. 

Anyway, the tournament was great fun to experience.

We ended up putting Pandora on the end of a dock with plenty of other boats and as it was the weekend we found ourselves this evening in the midst of a communal dock cookout.  We contributed some sausage and to that was added chicken, pork, cobia (whatever that is) as well as tuna and some corn on the cob.  All that and pasta salad and all matter of food choices.  Someone had even brought pineapple infused rum. Yumm…

To top it all off, there was even a key lime pie in celebration of a “birthday girl”.  And no, I didn’t ask how old she was.One of the boats on the dock is also headed to the FL Keys this winter so perhaps we’ll see them there.  In case you missed it, Brenda and I are headed there ourselves.

So, hopefully, we will head out of the Cape Fear River early Sunday to begin our 300nm run to St Mary’s.  That should put us there by Tuesday in preparation for our flights home from Jacksonville on Wednesday.

I should close with a shot of Pandora on the dock, dink on the cabin top and ready for her offshore run.  Wish me luck.  I had better get to bed as it’s going to be a long few days as we head south.  Unfortunately, it is looking like a motorboat ride.  Not a lot of wind in the forecast. Such is the “delivery business”, with deadlines to keep.

Don’t forget, I’ll be posting Pandora’s position every four hours while we are underway.  Just check “where’s Pandora”, on this site, for updates.

Oh yeah, Southport is a lovely town.  The live oaks are magnificent and it’s fun to visit a spot that Brenda and I enjoyed on our run south two years ago.

Snooze time…

It’s Friday late morning and we have been underway since 07:00 on our way to Carolina Beach NC.   The run today should be somewhat shorter than the last two days, which have both been between 70 and 80nm.   As I write this we are about 45nm from our destination which should put us there at a reasonable hour.

This morning it was raining lightly as we headed out and the sunrise was quite stunning. The goal for today is to put us near Cape Fear where we will jump out behind a cold front which is supposed to exit the coast there around mid-day Saturday for our 250nm run to St Mary’s, a run that should take us about a day and a half.  The wind is expected to be pretty strong, and from behind us, for perhaps as much as 24 hours and then it will become much lighter.   All of this suggests that we will have to motor-sail for at least part of the time.  However, we will surely make much better time, and hopefully sail for a good while, than being in the ICW. Hopefully, the winds will remain behind us and not go toward the south until we make port in St Mary’s 

As has been the case lately, it continues to be hard to get a weather window that lasts more than a few days which really makes it difficult to do any long offshore passages.  This wouldn’t be a problem if I was just cruising down the coast, but with a deadline to get home and a need to make time. it does make things a bit tricky.

When Brenda and I did this run two years ago, we had all sorts of time and really never had to worry about a schedule, which was nice.  Last year, I was able to make a run all the way from Beaufort some 600nm to Ft Pierce FL in a single shot as we had a pretty good window. However, that run was quite dramatic as it was on the tail of a very strong cold front that brought us winds of up to 40kts on the tail.  Actually, for my taste, that was a bit too much to be pleasant.  However, we did make good time.

Yesterday we saw our first dolphins as well as some pelicans.  I have had a really tough time getting shots of dolphins but was able to get a shot, even if it’s a bit blury.  Also, the pelicans weren’t very close.  However, it is a photo of a pelican and they say that blogs are better with photos, even crappy ones (editor’s assumption).  I guess you’ll have to be the judge.  Judge “nicely” please…  This is probably a photo that screams “you had to be there”.Today’s run takes us through Camp Lejeune, a major Marine base.  The ICW goes right through the camp area and there are some intimidating signs along the way to warn you when they are conducting live fire exercises.   Two years ago Brenda and I anchored in a small harbor within the camp’s boundaries and near us was a huge concrete ramp that provided access to the waters for hovercraft.  We didn’t see any during our visit but others have told me that it’s pretty amazing when the marines come blasting through on one of the big hover craft as they blast down the dirt road and into the water, throwing salt spray everywhere.

I guess that this sign suggests that they aren’t kidding.Yesterday we were passed at high speed by some really impressive powerboats manned by marines and painted in grey camouflage.   The boats, about 40’ long, were very angular looking, probably designed to be less detectable by radar.  Unfortunately, they came by so fast that I wasn’t able to get my camera out in time to get a shot.  I suspect that that’s the idea.

A few minutes ago we were passed by an Osprey VTOL aircraft, that’s “Vertical Take Off and Landing”.  These are sort of a high-bred of a prop plane crossed with a helicopter.  Their huge rotors are vectored vertically for takeoff and then are rotated forward to fly like a regular plane.  The design has been plagued by problems from the start, with quite a few crashes over the years but continue to be in service.   Never the less, they look amazing flying by.  Too bad they didn’t get closer.   I guess you’ll have to use your imagination.  No wait, I cropped it.  That’s not too bad.  Yes?The waterway here is flanked by miles of marsh grass on both sides.  The color of the grass is quite dramatic against the overcast sky.  Like the other canals on the ICW, this area is carved out of swamp and the channels go on for miles without a bend. Shrimping is big business in these parts.  This guy passed us in really narrow channel with his nets set out to dry.  A very impressive sight.  It looked like some sort of massive insect.  Well, it’s time for lunch so I had better wrap it up.  Hopefully, the weather will hold out for our run, beginning on Saturday.  

It’s Thursday morning and we are motoring down the ICW near Oriental, NC.  The winds are very calm with just enough on the beam to allow us to motorsail, sort of.  It’s a beautiful area in a bleak sort of way.

Last night we anchored in Belhaven NC, a town that some might say has “seen it’s best days” many years ago.  The main street has a number of empty storefronts, which is a bit depressing.   The land is VERY low with the streets near the water not more than a few feet above sea level.   I can’t imagine what a storm surge from a hurricane would do to the area.  Can you say “mom, there’s 8’ of water in the garage, no wait, in the living room”.  Yikes…

Jim and I went ashore for pizza and beer and were very pleased with how good the pizza was.  I wasn’t expecting much and was pleasantly surprised.  There is a new restaurant in town that was about to open up when Brenda and I were there last October and I was impressed with how nice it was. Given the look of mainstreet, the place looked a bit out of place.  However, even on a Wednesday night they seemed to be doing a pretty good business.   The place is called The Tavern at Jack’s Neck.  It’s worth visiting.

So, here we are motoring toward Beaufort and our plan to make an offshore run, perhaps beginning on Saturday. However, the dilemma is that the window for a good offshore breeze is pretty short and I am not sure if there is enough time to make the 360 mile run from Beaufort to St Mary’s GA before the wind clocks to the south and stops our progress.

In the fall, winds from the north are common but they seem to only last for a few days prior to clocking back to the prevailing southerly direction.  The problem is that this doesn’t allow enough time to make a long run offshore.  Anyway, today I was thinking about this and it occurred to me that perhaps the best option would be to bypass Beaufort NC, which is just south of Cape Hatteras and head another 80-100 mile south from there and jump out at either Masonboro Inlet, just north of Cape Fear or to continue a bit further to Cape Fear River Inlet and jump out from there.  By heading out from Cape Fear, we can avoid the 40 mile SE run to get around the Cape Fear shoals that would be required if we headed out from Masonboro Inlet.

I suspect that we will be able to make the additional distance down the ICW to Southport NC in time to catch the favorable winds in the Cape Fear area that should arrive late on Saturday.

Anyway, that’s the plan, for today anyway, which should put us into St Mary’s in time to make our Wednesday evening flights home.

Yesterday and today will be long days but the motoring is easy with very light winds and glass calm conditions.  Yesterday we were underway for over 11 hours and made nearly 80 miles.  That was a long but very pleasant day.  Today is likely to be about the same.  The shore scenery as we headed down narrow canals was a bit bleak but pretty at the same time.  I guess you’ll have to be the judge. Very peaceful.A few minutes ago two mean looking bunch of GI Joe guys in RIBS blasted by.  They were hauling.  Your tax dollars hard at work.   And, what’s a post without a nice sunrise over downtown Belhaven in a light haze.The beginning of yet another beautiful day on the ICW.  We’ll see how the plans go.  For now, continuing to mosey on down the ICW.    

And, that’ s my report.