Hampton to Beaufort, NC

This summer was hectic. As you may remember we bought a condo. It is small, only two bedrooms and two baths with just over 1400 square feet. However, compared to our accommodations on the boat for the past five years, it is cavernous. We got our stuff back from Dave and Joan Wolf, the friends who have stored it for the past five years, and, needless to say, we ended up buying quite a bit of new furniture. Spot enjoyed running from one end of the condo to the other and Ann enjoyed playing in her new kitchen. Me? Well, we had this enormous wall just begging for a television. Once we had it, of course, I had to make sure it worked. It is fifty-three inches of Technicolor glory.



Three Intrepid Fishermen at Estes Park, CO

In addition to buying the condo, this summer we traveled to Estes Park, CO for a family reunion of sorts. Let’s see, there was my mother, my sister and her husband, Roger; her daughters, their spouses, and their children (I think that means my nieces, grandnieces and grandnephews). Then, there was our daughter, Lisa, and her youngest son Trent; our son, Tim, his wife Carry and our grandchildren, Caylin and Gavin. The whole purpose of the trip was to go trout fishing, and we did that. Sadly, we only caught four, two for Tim and two for me (mine were MUCH bigger), and enjoyed eating them. 

And then, of course, we prepared for departure. I’m sorry, I just gotta do it.

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turning our way

And our way
Is on the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again

There’s more to the song, but I think you get the idea.

Yes, we are off again. Our intent was to leave Solomons, MD o/a 6 October, meander down the Bay (checking out our new and repaired systems along the way) and end up in Hampton, VA, which is located in the southern Chesapeake, on October 12^th so I could give a presentation on ICW travel to which I had previously committed. Because of Hurricane Matthew, however, we stayed in the condo until Tuesday 11 October, then we kind of zipped down the Chesapeake to Hampton with only one night on the hook.

In Hampton we attended the Hampton Snowbird Rendezvous (HSR). For boaters, a rendezvous is a gathering with boating-related seminars, cruising-related classes, and always social events! The HSR was no different. This time, however, rather than being just a participant I was also a presenter! In the first session, I gave a presentation on several topics that fall under the rubric of “Managing the ICW.” Tom Hale was in charge and he and Jeff Janacek gave the other 2/3 of the presentation. The second talk was on “ICW Troublespots, Places to Visit and Side Trips in South Carolina and Georgia.” I also led a small seminar for people interested in going to the Bahamas. Overall the event was a lot of fun and we met some interesting people, had a lot of good food and enjoyed the opportunity to learn. We met so many folks that I cannot hope to list them all. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention Char Clark – the founder, organizer and “godmother” of the Hampton event – for all the work she does on behalf of Hampton, VA and the cruising community. Thanks, Char.

For those of you who don't think life is mostly about food,
think again. Here is our freezer packed with
victuals for our upcoming trip

During the rendezvous, we heard a knock on our door and it turned out to me Teri and Scott Miller, who we had met years ago in the Bahamas and later in Charleston on their boat Miller Time. The Millers have moved to Hampton and were out to dinner on the waterfront when they saw Traveling Soul. Hello again, Teri and Scott!! We hope to see you on our return north!

We took off right after the rendezvous, in part because we wanted to beat the rush out of Hampton. We had made reservations (as we always do) at the Top Rack Marina. Top Rack has the cheapest fuel prices in the area PLUS they offer a free slip if you eat at their restaurant. We think it is an excellent restaurant and really enjoy the food. So, cheap fuel, free dockage and good food; what’s not to love!!

After Top Rack, we locked through the Great Bridge Lock and passed under the Great Bridge Bridge (Don’t worry, I am not going to mention every bridge we pass – I just like writing about the Great Bridge Bridge (and yes, that is its name!)). We spent the night, anchored near a place called Broad Creek. There, we were attacked by thousands upon thousands of bugs. No, they were not noseeums – you could certainly seeum. There were so many hitting the boat that for a while we thought it was raining outside.  We have seen and reported on the Georgian Air Force (biting flies by the hundreds), now we know North Carolina’s response. The North Carolina Air Force consists thousands of seeums! They stayed with us all night and through most of the rest of the day. Apparently the wind we generated when we raced through the water at a scathing 9kts (~10 MPH) didn’t blow then off.

The next night we anchored on the Pungo River. I have discussed this anchorage before and the many reasons I like it, so I won’t talk about it here. What I will talk about is the dinner we had that evening. One of the things that happen when you get a new condo, a COMCAST subscription and a new 53” TV is that you watch television. Now, if you are too cheap to get some of the really cool channels, you end up watching a lot of the Food Channel. A lot. So, I have forgotten whether it was Giada or the Pioneer Woman (see what I mean? I even know the names of their shows!), but one of them made Gorgonzola Burgers. They looked good on TV and were even better on a plate.

Then it was on to Belhaven, NC. Ah, sweet, sweet Belhaven, the home of the Spoon River Artworks and Market. The first time we walked past the place, located in downtown Belhaven, we thought it was some sort of art studio. The next time we walked past, we saw tables arranged differently than any art studio we had ever seen – and different from any market as well. I am not sure when and how we figured out Spoon River was a restaurant, but that evening we had one of the best dinners we have had on the waterway. Every trip up or down the waterway, now, we look forward to re-visiting it. Yuuummmm!

We had planned on anchoring one more night, then meandering slowly into Beaufort (pronounced Bow-fort), NC and staying for a few days. The weather, however, looked like it might be on a different schedule than we were, so we decided to travel from Belhaven to Beaufort in one day. The day started out beautifully, but then, about 10:00 in the morning, the fog rolled in. Luckily we were in a pretty wide expanse of water and all I had to do was slow down a little, put on the running lights and flick on the radar. Then, as we came up to Goose Creek, we heard a tugboat on the radio that was in the creek pushing a barge and said he had zero visibility. HmmmmHHqqqH

 YIKES!, what to do, what to do, what to do. There was quite a bit of water at the mouth of the creek, so we decided to wait there until either the fog lifted or the barge came through. I called on the radio and told the boats behind me what I was doing and they all joined me in the wait. As luck would have it, though, we only had to wait about 20 minutes before the fog began lift and we all moved forward again. About the same time the tug came past and yes, I was right. It might have been kind of messy had we met in the middle of the creek where neither of us could see the other.

We stayed in Beaufort for a couple of days to let the weather pass. The first night we were there the wind whipped up to 40+ knots – over gale force – but we were hunkered down in the Homer Smith Marina. Shhhh, because this is a really nice marina and we don’t want everyone taking it over. It has large slips (since we have a pretty big boat, we really appreciate that), floating docks, a courtesy car that you can borrow to go to the grocery store, a drug store, hardware store, etc. PLUS, since the other half of the business is a shrimp processing plant … and they give you some free shrimp! We got about two pounds, which turned out to be about 60 very large shrimp. We ate the first 20 that night and they were scrumptious.

Oh, before I discuss Beaufort itself, I have to mention our diver. Before we left Solomons, we had a diver clean the bottom of our boat and replace our zincs.

First an explanation of zincs: Any time you have two different metals that are physically or electrically connected and immersed in seawater, they become a battery. Some amount of current flows between the two metals. The electrons that make up that current are supplied by one of the metals giving up bits of itself – in the form of metal ions – to the seawater. This is called “galvanic corrosion” and, left unchecked, it quickly destroys underwater metals. What we in the boating business do is to add a third metal to the mix. It is usually zinc and is called a “sacrificial zinc” because it dissolves before the shaft and other, more important parts of the boat do.

Anyway, our diver in Solomons was … not a very nice person (I was going to use other words, but Ann won’t let me.) He charged us $260 to clean the bottom and replace the zincs. I thought that was a bit high, but his cards were all around and we couldn’t find a card on any other diver.  The problem is that while he cleaned the bottom and put on one set of zincs, he didn’t have the shaft zincs on hand. He promised, therefore, to return and do it later. We went out and bought our own zincs, but you guessed it, we never saw him again.



Shrimp, More shrimp and red snapper from Beaufort, NC.

Now back to the Homer Smith Marina. When we were walking to the office we saw a diver. I talked to him and he agreed to put on our zincs – for $75. In fact, he said that it would be more economical for us if we paid him to clean the bottom AND do the zincs, because he would only charge $90 for that. WHATTT?!?!?! Ninety dollars in Beaufort compared to $260 back home? I don’t think we will ever again be using that diver in Solomons; and neither will any of our friends. Oh, and as we were talking afterwards, he asked if we liked fish. When I responded in the affirmative, he walked away and came back a few minutes later with a beautiful Red Snapper. I gotta tell you Beaufort people are my kind of people.

The marina was only about ½ mile from old town Beaufort, so we walked downtown. Beaufort is the third oldest city in North Carolina behind Bath and Edenton. In the early 1700’s Blackbeard and his ilk were frequent visitors to the city. It was right on the coast, had a wonderful inlet to the sea and had plenty of “diversions” for the pirates. In 1722, Beaufort incorporated and became a major trading center for the state and the country. It survived and thrived through the eighteenth and into the nineteenth centuries. Occupied by Union forces in 1862, the city was relatively unscathed by the Civil War. Over time, the city declined as a major regional trading center, but grew as a commercial fishing town. Today, while Beaufort has some trade and some fishing, it has become a tourist Mecca for North Carolina’s Crystal Coast.

In 1997, Beaufort was highlighted in national and international news as the wreckage of what is presumed to be Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, was discovered in 20 feet of water – 2 miles from Beaufort Inlet. Artifact recovery operations were immediately able to identify – and in some cases retrieve – many pieces, including the ship's bronze bell, cannons, and deck guns. Some of these artifacts are on display at the NC Maritime Museum.

In addition to the historical stuff, no tourist town worth its salt would exist without touristy shops – and Beaufort is no different. We dropped a bunch of money at an olive oil shop – OLIVE OIL for goodness sake. Well, I guess if it keeps the boat’s chef – and her sole customer happy – it is worth it.

Also in Beaufort, we met several cruisers. There was John and Pam on Short Vacation, Roger and Lorrie Aon Reality. In addition, our friends Shay and Elizabeth Glass from Escape came over from Morehead City for one of the docktail parties.

Finally, I got a cold. On the one hand that’s great – because I usually only get one cold per year and I have now checked that box. On the other hand, it does kind of slow one down. Oh well, we are on the road again!!!!

 SPOT’S NOTES:

Jmkn
JNNNNNNNNNNNN|m n7np[mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm=m –n\-============

ANN’S NOTE’S:  I guess I should explain the above sequence … when Michael leaves his computer open, one of Spot’s favorite places to sit is on is keyboard. She has to adjust herself to get comfortable and when she does, she types. Most often she just turns the screen to some obscure internet place that takes Michael a little while to correct. The solution is to close the lid but that would be no fun for Spot.

I am going to do this blog in what I call The First Mate Log … kinda like a Star Trek thing.

First I want to acknowledge and say Thank You to our son Tim for helping us settle in to our new condo. He took a weekend to help put Ikea furniture together and also got our new massive TV … bought and hung on the wall. He brought the family SUV … that TV was not going to fit in our two-seat Miata.

Another BIG thank you to our wonderful, patient and loving friends Dave and Joan Wolf. They really do make it easy for us to cruise and visit family. Not only did they take care of our belongings for five years, they are always by our side when we need help.  They love Spot and cat-sat for her while we were off on vacation in CO. The door to their home is always open to us and their hands always willing to put furniture together or move boxes.

We are more than Blessed to have such a support system … again thank you all.

Ok …Then…

SOME of our Fantasy Prints above our new sectional in our new condo.

Friday 1 July 2016 Settlement date and final walk through of Condo … spend all morning signing papers … we now own a condo!!!

July 2 and 3   Dave and Joan Visit … fun weekend

July 5    Order new sofa for condo … Clean carpets on boat (not easy to transport carpet machine in a little Miata … convertible top down to get machine in)

July 6   Start moving clothes and such to condo … Shop for Master and Guest room mattress

July 7 Pack for CO trip…Move food out of boat fridge to Condo…

July 8   Spend night at Dave and Joan…Get Spot settled into her new place at D&J’s  house

July 9   Moving company did a pre move inventory … sign contract for move

July 10 -27 VA-AZ-CO-CO-AZ-VA there is a whole other story behind all this travel…but not now.

July 28    Michael back to Maryland to check on Traveling Soul and Condo

July 29   I have Ophthalmology appointment in VA

July 30   Joan birthday, celebrate in Solomons, bring Spot back, bring some art work to condo

July 31   Start to think this may be a very busy summer with a very long to-do list that needs to be check off

Aug 1   Order master and guest room mattress

Aug 2    Order guest room furniture at Ikea … lock car keys in the car…yet another story within a story and again … not now

Aug 3   HSR first meeting on Traveling Soul … I went our shopping with Cristina Sisson…fun day.

Aug 4   Drive to D & J …

Aug 5   Moving day in VA and delivery day in MD … ong ass day to say the least

Aug 6   D & J bring Spot to MD … sofa delivered … mattress delivered … 10 boxes unpacked

And that, my friends, is just the beginning of all that needed to be done. The next few weeks was a blur of unpacking, organizing, trips to Target, to Bed, Bath and Beyond, to ACE hardware and the normal every day stuff like grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry. And the yearly doctors appointments and dental appointments thrown in for good measure.

The bottom line is…I love the condo in Solomons. The minute I walked into the space and told me this is Home, your land base for the summer. We have shared it with a few friends already and that makes me so very happy. We have started to build warm and lasting memories already. To all of our cruising friends, you are all welcome to come visit. Come stay in Solomons, I will cook you a meal from my fabulous kitchen, and I even do laundry while you sip your drink of choice.

I am glad to be cruising again, my heart is now divided between our beautiful Traveling Soul and our wonderful Condo.

Traveling Soul … OUT