 We made no trips to speak of since our last update, at least not along the surface of the water or down the roads. However, we have gone vertical a few times as we tweaked a few things at the top of the mast. And, for the first time, Dave got a bird’s eye view of the Hampton harbor and Orion’s standing rigging from aloft.
To the Top!  Although Dave appears to be up in the clouds, it's actually due to a smudge on the camera lens that he appears to be in a fog.  Old wind transducer that needed replacement. We had 2 missions at the top of the mast that required us to dust off the Top Climber and ratchet our way back up. The first project concerned our wind transducer and the 2nd was the pursuit of the holy grail of anchor lights – an LED that would fit our fixture.
Back in Marathon, we had discovered that our wind transducer had a disturbing bend in the long metal rod that held the anemometer out from the mast, as you can see in the picture above. We had tried to re-linearize it, based on advice from Raymarine, in hopes that this would correct for the difference in wind angle on the instruments. But we were unsuccessful in making this happen. (As we learned later, this was more due to pilot error than the wind transducer, but more about that later.) So, we decided to look for a replacement.
It turned out that Smith Marine Electronics, a business whose offices sit at the end of the dock, had another used transducer that they could use, along with some parts from ours to get us an unbent, working one. We put the refurbished transducer in place and headed out to the Hampton River to calibrate it.
It was on this run that we learned what we had done wrong before. After repeating the calibration process several times (which involved spinning Orion in a numerous circles until we looked like some very confused mariners), we continued to get nothing on the instruments. Grasping at straws, we decided to return the instrument to its factory defaults and then repeat the process.
It worked like a charm. So, if we had done that with the original transducer . . .
 Our next trip up the mast was to try a new LED masthead lightbulb that was designed for our anchor light’s single bayonet fixture. We do already have an LED anchor light with a photocell (a Christmas gift in 2007) that we use almost exclusively whether at anchor or on a mooring, instead of the masthead light which has an 8W incandescent bulb. However, Dave prefers to mount this on the boom, since it has an integral LED bulb, instead of one that can be replaced. He has a concern that we would be out of luck if it failed for any reason once mounted at the top of the mast. This is why we continue to look for a lightbulb which will work in our existing fixture. That way either light that we use would have a minimum power draw.
But it was not to be. Cathy once again tried unsuccessfully to get the bulb to fit properly and light. It just wouldn’t do it. Dave was thinking the most logical next step was to replace the light fixture itself. Cathy’s confidence was pretty low that she could make this happen, unless the attachments points were identical. So, Dave decided it was time for him to get a first hand look at the problem.
So, up the mast he went, gaining an appreciation for the effort required to haul yourself with our “mountain climbing” apparatus. He much more quickly determined that we could not replace the light unless it was another of the same fixture. Good plan!
While making our trips up the mast, we got to test out our new wireless headset walkie-talkies, which we bought to assist in anchoring. These worked like a charm to communicate from the deck to the top of the mast. The only problem is you can’t mutter those unmentionable comments any more, because they’re likely to hear what you said.
 Lighting Up and Powering Down
On the same internet site that we found the new anchor light (www.mastlight.com), Dave discovered some reasonably priced LED cabin lights for our G4 fixtures. He ordered one, which fit well and seemed to produce roughly equivalent light to the halogen 5W that it replaced for a fraction of the power draw. We decided to go for it and order replacements for all of the similar cabin lights.
Now we can turn lights on with “reckless abandon” at anchor, without worrying about its effects on battery health. It will also bring us a little closer still to being able to rely solely on the solar panels to recharge the batteries.
 Down and Dirty
Thanks to a comment by one of our live-aboard neighbors on the dock, Dave decided to check out our A/C raw water filter to see if it needed cleaning. Although we use it almost constantly, we hadn’t checked it in a while. It was a good thing we decided to look, but it meant a nasty job to clean it out. After scrubbing the strainer clean and fishing the gunk out of the bowl, we left it in a much better state for efficient cooling. This prompted us to clean all of the other water filters on the boat (except the engine, which didn’t need it). None of them even came close to the A/C filter. And we were reassured to see how clean our fresh water filter continues to be.
Odd Jobs
While taking a break from traveling, we continued to get some odd jobs done on the boat. Dave ordered new dock lines to replace some of the older ones. We had a diver come to clean the bottom. Dave found a new Infrared Thermometer, which he can use to point at the engine’s thermostat to see how hot it is running. This came to be suggested when we were having problems with the raw water strainer on the engine.
 Family Time
We continue to enjoy being close to our children and grandchildren, who are less than 2 hours away. We got to celebrate Jayden’s (our 2nd grandchild) 2nd birthday on July 29th. He seemed to get into opening the packages, although the one that most fascinated him was the police car from his big brother that made all that noise. We also were joined by Bonnie’s family for an unfortunately brief fishing trip. The forecasted lightning storms arrived minutes after we set anchor near the Hampton Bridge Tunnel. We managed to enjoy a very good dinner at Harpoon Larry’s afterward, so all was not lost.
Dancin' In the Streets
Our first Saturday back in Hampton was spent teaching a CPR class. We were glad to have the chance to do this since it allowed us to extend our instructor certification for another year. So, it wasn't until the following Saturday that we finally decided to enjoy the Hampton downtown street festival on Queen Street. The street is closed to traffic so that festival-goers can enjoy the street vendors and live band. We even found ourselves dancing to a song or two before the night was over.
Thanks to a local radio station at the festival, we picked up a few free tickets to a Norfolk Tides game on the following Tuesday. They were playing the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. (I'm not kidding.) The Harbor Park is on the waterfront in Norfolk, close enough to see the barge traffic behind the scoreboard. We were seated just 1 row back from the 3rd base line, so we had a great view, but unfortunately the Tides lost 7 to 1 to Iron Pigs. I guess it just wasn't their night.
Stationary No More
We expect to start moving Orion more in August, now that we have no long road trips planned. (Smart, right? Just when the Chesapeake is at its hottest and sultriest.) We still plan to travel to Deltaville for some engine work at a minimum. So, all those boat projects will be put to a good test.
 We managed to squeeze in a few more projects on Orion between trips – this time to Sunset Beach, NC, where Cathy’s family was gathering. For those of you who associate this location with the infamous pontoon bridge which crosses to the barrier island, you’ll be happy to know that the replacement fixed bridge is well underway for its 2010 completion.
Can you hear me now?
It was becoming a familiar refrain: “Orion, you are barely readable.” Or worse yet, silence in response to a hail from our VHF radio. At first, we just chalked it up to background noise or operator error, but it was becoming harder to ignore that we were having a more serious problem. We started dashing down to the nav station whenever we realized we weren’t transmitting from the helm. Since that mike consistently got through, we realized the problem was inside the remote mike at the helm. The remote mike received clearly, but nothing was getting out anymore.
While our handheld could be used as a temporary replacement, it was not going to be a long-term solution. The batteries died too quickly, and the power was too low. We contacted Standard Horizon, the manufacturer of our primary radio to see if they could help with the remote mike. They said to ship the mike to them for evaluation and repair. For a fixed fee, they would replace the chip, if it turned out to be the problem, and return it.
Within a couple of weeks, we had our remote mike back at the helm and were actually being heard when we transmitted. It gives a whole new meaning to the Verizon slogan.
Clean and Shiny
Once Orion’s topsides had been waxed, Cathy turned her attention to the stainless steel. The painter’s tape had protected it during the Cetol application to the gunwales, but had left a residue in places that needed to be removed. The stainless steel polish removed the gunk and left it gleaming – if only for a while.
 Dave changes the fuel element on the engine. Fuel Issues
It’s been well over a year since we had any anxiety about Orion starting reliably when we turned the key. That has changed a little in the past month or so. On 2 occasions, we have tried to start her up, only to have her quickly sputter off and then refuse to start again. We had seen this once before, but it was years ago, during our first summer up in Edgewater. The solution then – and now – was to bleed the fuel line on the engine. However, given the recurrence of the problem in such a short time, we decided to change the on-engine fuel filter to determine if this might be a contributor as well. Since it was clean, we ruled that out, but are theorizing that the soaring temperatures while we are away from the boat created a vacuum within the fuel line. We’ll keep monitoring the situation to see if this theory holds true.
Do you see what I see?
While leaving Vero Beach this past Spring, Cathy was using the binoculars early on a damp morning to verify the path of an oncoming barge. She quickly realized that the white blur that she saw as she looked into the distance was not an intense fog outside, but rather inside the binoculars. We were later to discover that this set of binoculars was not waterproof and probably not the best to use for the boat. Since they were purchased at West Marine, we took them back to see if there was any warranty left. There was enough to get us a discount on a new pair that gives us much greater visibility, even though the rating (7 x 50) is the same.
Between the foggy binoculars being replaced and Cathy’s eyeglass prescription being updated, the possibilities are great for new sights to be seen as head out again this fall.
 Hit the Beach
We had a great time introducing our grandson to the wonders of the ocean as we gathered with Cathy’s family at Sunset Beach for a week. It’s been a while since we’ve built so many sandcastles or dodged so many waves. Although Droz seemed to be full of energy at day’s end, Grandpa and Grandma were not quite so lively, but we all enjoyed ourselves.
Summer wears on
We plan to spend another month in Hampton, which will make this the longest stay in one place for Orion since we moved aboard. It’s been nice begin close enough to family to visit, and we’ve continued to enjoy our friends on the dock at Joy’s Marina.
 We’ve covered 1000 miles in the past 2 weeks, traveling from our base in Hampton as far north as Lake Ontario and as far south as Winston-Salem, NC. We don’t have any more tow truck stories to tell, so it seems the car is up to the challenge now (knock wood). And we managed to get a few things done on Orion in between trips.
Keeping the water running
Although we had been taking Orion out for short trips once a week to keep her running gear clean, we hadn’t taken any long trips since Memorial Day, due to the continued problems with the engine’s raw water strainer. With any turbulence at all, the strainer’s water level was now consistently losing water to the point we would have to reduce rpm’s or turn off the engine and sail. Not that traveling under sail is a terrible way to travel when you can, but having a more reliable engine to fall back on in nasty weather would increase our general sense of security. The engine was still being consistently cooled, so that overheating wasn’t an issue, but it had to be carefully monitored to ensure this remained the case.
It was time to come up with a permanent solution.
After doing some research, Dave talked to Jay (from Merri-mar Yacht Basin) who recommended replacing the original Vetus water strainer with a Perko 493. Over the course of a couple of weeks, he ordered the strainer, some 316 stainless steel AWAB hose clamps (recommended by Roger on Shango) and some 90 degree elbows. Now he was ready to take the plunge.
After removing the existing strainer, he carefully examined the hoses to ensure nothing within them was restricting the water flow. He then mounted the new strainer to his new polyurethane-covered oak board and positioned it so that this taller basket could be removed without any problems. Using the new elbows and the hose clamps, he connected the strainer to the thru-hull and the engine, only having to replace one hose with a slightly longer version.
After topping off the strainer with water (and re-opening the thru-hull – don’t want to forget that), the engine started and ran without a hitch, pumping water consistently at various rpm’s. Good news, but neither of us will be convinced that the problem is completely fixed until we find ourselves in rough weather with no problems. It’s hard to seek out that kind of sea trial.
Did you see what’s growing down there?
When Cathy was re-applying Cetol to the toe rails and waxing the upper deck, we wanted to have the dinghy out of the way to allow better access. So we left it in the water for about 4 weeks until we returned home from Rochester. At that point, Dave caught a glimpse of the bottom and decided it was time to get it back up on deck. Without any bottom paint to protect it, the dinghy was covered with a dense growth (inches thick!) of a seaweed with nasty little grape-like “fruit” all over it. These had the unfortunate habit of popping as we scraped the bottom and spraying us with their contents – not a pleasant experience. The dinghy cleaned up nicely, but we began to wonder about Orion.
We had taken her out the previous day, and she was a bit sluggish. Dave happened to see a diver working on a nearby boat and asked him just to check out Orion’s bottom. Later, we heard some scraping, discovering he had cleaned some growth off the prop and the rudder. He said that other than some soft growth, the bottom looked good and the zinc was still in good shape.
Maybe that bottom paint would last another year after all.  Dave's dad finishing the embroidery of the Orion shirts. New Duds
Dave’s dad has some wonderful new toys ( i.e., some very fancy sewing machines) that we encouraged him to put to use for our benefit. Dave bought some shirts for his dad to embroider with “S/V Orion”, which he managed to do in several different colors on different shirts. It’s an amazingly sophisticated tool, and the results looked great!
Road Trips
We had two longer trips planned for the end of June. One was to Rochester, where our daughter and newest grandson would be honored with a “meet the baby” baby shower. With little Troy and Bonnie along for the ride, we took a slower trip north, stopping a little more often than we had in the past to keep up with little Troy’s needs. While in Rochester, in addition to the shower, we visited with Dave’s family and even found a few hours between family obligations and dentist appointments to squeeze in a lunch with some friends at Kodak and dinner with Joanne and Ralph on White Bird.
With a few days in between in Hampton, we then headed south to NC to visit Cathy’s family. After first spending a day with our son Adam’s family, we left the next morning with our oldest grandson, Droz, headed to Winston-Salem. Much of Cathy’s time was focused some doing some recordkeeping for her mom, but Dave found time to take Droz to the Forsyth Museum and Science Center, which both thoroughly enjoyed. More miles ahead?
We have at least one more road trip planned before we turn our attention to more travels on the Bay. Hopefully, thanks to the new water strainer, the engine will be pumping water without interruption, no matter what conditions we find out there.
 Hampton continues to be our base, as we make some road trips from here to other spots in Virginia. The rest of the time, we’re working on Orion, exploring Hampton and volunteering at the local American Red Cross. We are keeping our instructor certificates in force and filling in for some classes that needed instructors at the Hampton office. After teaching our first CPR class, we were returning home very late, only to find a nearby building on fire. Luckily no one was inside, or we might have been doing more than teaching first aid.
 We have to pass the historic Phoenix Hall at Hampton University to get to our marina. Now used as a classroom building, we were shocked to see flames shooting from the roof as we passed late one night on our way back to the boat. A dozen emergency vehicles responded to save the building. We learned the next morning that it sustained about $500,000 worth of damage before it was brought under control.
Wax on – Wax off
With much of the woodwork on Orion looking so shiny from the recent coats of Cetol, the rest of the deck began to suffer by comparison. Therefore, Cathy turned her attention to a much needed waxing of the upper deck and cockpit. This helped removed any dirt and residue from the painting tape as well as the usual scuff marks that come from living and sailing aboard all year.. The effort was worth it, since it helped bring out the shine in the gelcoat and, going forward, will protect it from the sun and saltwater exposure.
Let’s Get Physical
With the unseasonal spike in the temperatures and humidity over several days in early June, Cathy had to limit the work on the deck to early mornings and evenings to avoid the heat of the day. Since we were both looking to put our best foot forward for our annual physical, it didn’t look like we were going to be able to get enough exercise just doing boat projects or walking. It was too darn hot.
We found another way to get in shape at the local Hampton Community Center. For just $10 each, we could get an annual pass that gave us access to their facility, which included a pool. This way, we could swim laps for exercise, without worrying so much about heat effects. We seemed to have done pretty good staying in shape this year, since we were both able to swim at least a mile our first day in the pool. Maybe the physicals would go OK after all.
Tuning Our Instruments
While in Marathon, we discovered that our anemometer (i.e., the thing that measures wind speed and direction at the top of the mast) was bent at an interesting angle, maybe 45 degrees off the centerline. This was causing mistakes in our true and apparent wind readings on our instrument at the helm. Raymarine suggested we try to re-calibrate it, which we had done successfully 3 years ago, just after purchasing Orion. So, we headed out one calm morning into the Hampton River to try this.
Before adjusting the wind instrument, we decided to first re-calibrate the speedometer. We had been suspicious for a long time that this was overstating our boat speed – maybe by as much as a knot and a half. Since we rely on our GPS speed most of the time, this wasn’t too much of a problem, but the speedometer is used by the instruments to calculate true wind speed from apparent. If the boat speed was off, then the true wind speed could be off as well. Also, the difference between the GPS speed (i.e. speed over ground) and boat speed (speed in the water, as measured by an instrument spinning in the water under the boat), should give an estimate of the current we are running in. It would be nice to have a more accurate estimate of that as well.
So, we started our calibration run, which required us to travel a pre-measured distance out and back, while programming the start and finish into the speedometer while it is in calibration mode. We used our GPS to measure the distance and establish the track to follow back. Then we retraced our route back to the beginning. The speedometer appeared to be more accurate after we finished, since it read a speed lower than the GPS, which had almost never happened before, but only time will tell for sure.
Now, it was time to calibrate the anemometer. This was supposed to be simple. We turned the boat through two complete circles with the instruments in calibration mode. If successful, the instrument should beep twice after the 2nd rotation. We spun around once, twice, three times for good measure, but nothing happened. Just to be sure we didn’t do it wrong; we spun the opposite direction three times. Again, nothing. It was beginning to look like we needed to do something more serious to correct this problem.
In the meantime, we’ll have to continue to account for the error when we go for a sail.
What’s that noise?
We read once that you should never let a noise or a smell on a boat go uninvestigated. If it’s at all out of the ordinary, it probably means something is going on that you want to know about. We had let one sound go long enough that we were lulled into thinking it was usual, so we hadn’t gone to investigate.
Over the course of the past year, we would occasionally hear our water pump run for a second when no water was being used. This was curious, but we suspected it was just to re-pressurize the system when it hadn’t been used for a while. This theory quickly unraveled as Cathy was working on the boat one day last week.
The pump was starting to sound more often, only a few minutes apart. Initially involved in other tasks and hoping Dave would arrive back soon, she simply turned the water pump breaker off, along with the hot water heater. That stopped the noise. However, she eventually needed water to wash her hands, and the water pump seemed to be re-pressurizing even more frequently. It seemed the leak was getting worse. She realized she couldn’t put this off any longer.
The last time we had a leak, we discovered its source was the hot water heater’s outgoing fresh hot water hose. Since the water pump was in the same compartment as the hot water heater, her hopes were that the problem was somewhere in there. This compartment drains directly into the bilge and would make the least mess, which might explain why we had never found the problem before. After a few false starts, Cathy found the leak this time in the fresh water hose leading into the hot water heater, less than an inch away from the nipple. She was attempting to tape it as a temporary fix, when Dave arrived back. He proceeded to remove the hose, cut of the part with the hole and reattach it.
Voila. No more leak. No more errant water pump sounds.  Dave managed to locate, order and receiver all the parts necessary to replace the water strainer, but he would need a bigger board to mount the new strainer to the engine wall. With some help from son-in-law Troy’s table saw, he got a piece of oak cut to the right size, and then spent the next couple of days applying several coats of polyurethane to seal it.
Now he just needed to get enough time on the boat to actually install it.
Field Trips
So, we didn’t spend all of our time and energy on the boat. We managed to get to Emporia to help build a swing set with our son, Adam, and help take care of 9-week old little Troy for our daughter Bonnie and her husband, Troy. Dave also helped big Troy run some wires in his garage.
Additionally, we made it up to northern Virginia for doctors’ appointments, a meeting with our financial planner and trips to a couple of banks. This gave us the opportunity to visit with friends from the area. We spent the weekend enjoying the hospitality of our friend, Cookie, including a trip to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Center – the extension of the Smithsonian out near Dulles Airport.
We were thrilled to get a chance to take in a service at United Christian Parish, the church we attended while living in Reston. It wasn’t the best Sunday to see some of the youth we worked with while there (since graduation had just occurred), but it was good to see so many others from the congregation, including Billie who had recruited us to work with the youth several years ago.  For the miles driven, we seem to have a lot more trouble with this vehicle, than on Orion. Note the Milwaukee Custard eatery in the background. With our doctors’ visits behind us, we were splurging a little. The weekend was ending on a near perfect note – until Dave put the key in to the ignition for our return trip. Our car wouldn’t start. After repeated tries, we finally realized we were going to have to get it towed to the Chevy dealer where we’d bought it 5 years ago. Cookie graciously agreed to take us in for yet another night and pick us and our stuff up from the parking lot where we the car died. The good news was that we enjoyed another day visiting our friend, and the repair was covered under warranty. (Thanks to Adam for keeping the receipt from the same repair done this spring.) If it had to go wrong, this was probably the best time for it to happen. More Road Trips Ahead
We have trips to New York and North Carolina in our near future, so we won’t be spending too much time on the boat in the next couple of weeks, but we will probably find time to get a few more projects done in the time we have. We’ll keep you posted.
 Despite our intentions to make a leisurely trip north from Charleston to Hampton, we made it north in record time. It seemed every time we tried to slow down and take it easy, circumstances prevailed to push us on. So, we’ve enjoyed the extra time here in southern VA, working on the boat, seeing friends and family.
South River to Alligator River
At the end of last update, we were going to take some time out in the South River, opposite Oriental, NC. That changed when we thought we saw the perfect opportunity for some sailing in the Neuse River on Saturday, May 17. We decided to make a short day of it and travel only 12 miles to an anchorage in Bear Creek, off the Bay River, just before the ICW enters the Hobucken cut.
Unfortunately, as usually happens for sailors, the winds did not cooperate. As we tried to set our sails upon leaving the South River, the wind promptly evaporated. We kept motoring on, hoping for a wind shift, which didn’t happen -- that is, until it was too late to take advantage of it. It did, however, arrive in time to fan the flames of a huge brush fire in the marshes north of us as we headed into the Bay River. The smoke quickly filled the air for miles and created the only clouds in an otherwise perfectly clear blue sky. We immediately reported the fire to the Coast Guard, only to learn later that this was a “controlled burn”. We never learned why there was a need for such devastation.
 Brush fires north of Oriental With no wind to make for good sailing, and stormy weather headed our way the next day, we decided to continue on through Hobucken Cut, across the Pamlico and Pungo Rivers and anchor for a couple of days in Slade Creek, opposite Belhaven. We had anchored there a couple of years ago, and it seemed to have lots of space and good holding.
So, 37 miles and 6 hours after starting out for a short sail, we were anchored in Slade Creek and planned to stay put for a couple of nights.
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.  We can't be dragging
When we decide to anchor out, we use our GPS anchor alarm to give us an audible alarm if Orion drifts outside a set perimeter around the anchor. This generally works well, but every now and then, our GPS loses “accuracy” and causes a false anchor drag alarm. Since we haven’t drug anchor in a couple of years, we assumed this was the case in Slade Creek, when the alarm sounded on Sunday afternoon. We had been anchored for about 18 hours, so even though we were just starting to feel some stronger wind gusts, it didn’t seem probable that we could be dragging.
However, as Dave checked the instruments to see how strong the winds were, the anchor alarm sounded. He started looking at the GPS and the few landmarks around us. (There weren’t many.) It didn’t take long to determine that this was no false alarm. We were dragging, and the crab floats that had been so far away last night were getting closer. We were going to have to pull the anchor and move. Now.
Cathy started the engine, and Dave moved forward to the bow to pull the anchor. The winds were 35 knots and gusting higher. Not ideal weather for pulling anchor. Cathy tried to keep the engine engaged enough to reduce the strain on the anchor and keep Orion away from crab pots and off the nearby shoal extending from the north shore. Dave managed to get the anchor on board, and Cathy began plowing into what had become 2-3 foot seas with waves crashing over the bow. (She was thanking her lucky stars that she had closed the portlights below only minutes before the anchor alarm went off.)
As we took turns at the helm, we took care of stowing things below and getting our normal “pre-departure” checklist items taken care of. At one point, we heard an awful clanking noise, causing Cathy to spring up from below. We had snagged a crab pot. With the winds still above 30 knots and blowing us toward shore, we couldn’t afford to be paralyzed by a crab line around the prop. Dave quickly put the engine into neutral and then reverse, and was able to spin the pot off. We were getting spooked. We had successfully navigated thousands of crab pots in 3 years since we started sailing on Orion. It seemed incredible that we could drag anchor and snag a crab pot for the first time within minutes of each other.
And now, we were slogging our way up the Pungo River, motorsailing in high winds and seas. So, where would we go? Docking somewhere in this wind seemed out of the question. We knew of only 2 anchorages with enough room to allow us room to weather the storm. The first was only 12 miles away. The 2nd was 35 miles away. Having left the anchorage at 1pm, we wouldn’t make the further anchorage until after 7pm. But we had held there in higher winds, so that seemed to be the better choice. As we passed the anchorage in the Pungo River just before the 20 mile Alligator-Pungo Canal, it already had 4 boats anchored there. Although we hadn’t explored all the way up the channel to know if there might be enough room further up, we decided to press on to the Alligator River. It was a huge anchorage, holding was good, and protection could be found from the southwest, where the winds were coming from.
We motored by ourselves through the canal, which was protected from the high winds. The 3 boats that were with us in the Pungo River had quickly found shelter. The wind-driven current gave our speed a boost, so we made it to the anchorage on the Alligator River earlier than expected, although the wind speeds increased as expected after we left the canal. We chose a spot favoring the southwest shore and anchored successfully on the first try.
But the day wasn’t over yet. NOAA weather was warning of severe storms moving through the area, including some tornado warnings. Cathy quickly fixed dinner, which we gulped down and had almost cleaned up when Dave said, “It’s here.” Cathy came up to join him in the cockpit, and we started the engine. Orion swung to the northwest in the direction of the first of the 2 storms. The wind gusts were as high as 46 knots and the first storm passed just north of us, but the anchor held. That gave us more confidence for the 2nd storm, which passed right over us. Luckily, we had wind and rain only – no lightning. The storms passed within an hour, and the rest of the night was quiet.
So much for a relaxing Sunday at anchor.
A Forecast Gone Wrong
In listening to the forecast for the upcoming week, it became clear that we wanted to be someplace secure on Tuesday, as severe storms were due to pass through in advance of a cold front. However, Monday was supposed to be a good day to travel – west winds 10 to 15 knots. Not a bad day to cross the Albemarle Sound. We left the anchorage early to make our way up the Alligator River toward the sound and Coinjock on the other side.
The winds were good for sailing, so we killed the engine and sailed up the river, making the Alligator River swing bridge by 10am. However, we were disturbed by conflicting reports of the conditions on the sound. More than one boat that headed out from the Alligator River Marina had turned around and come back, including a sailboat, which usually can tolerate wind and waves better than trawlers. We took a chance and called Restless, who we believed was only a day ahead of us. Sure enough, they answered after having just crossed the sound. Their report was disturbing – 5 foot seas, winds above 25 knots from the northwest. As we were considering our options for going forward or staying at the Alligator River Marina, we heard a report from another sailboat, Star. Apparently, conditions had changed dramatically since Restless crossed. Star was having a lovely sail, wind only 18 knots, best sailing they’d had in months.
Hmm. . .
We decided to press on. The forecast was for the winds to diminish over the course of the day, maybe they had already started. As we stuck our nose out into the Albemarle Sound, it became obvious that conditions had not gotten better at all. We managed to sail again, but the waves were as high as we’ve seen on the sound and the wind was 30 knots gusting to 35 from the Northwest. Where were those 10 to 15 knot West winds? There were others out there with us, so we decided to keep going. We were just a little past halfway across the Albemarle when the first crab float appeared. With the waves as high as they were, it was going to be hard to spot them, so one of us had to remain constantly on watch, while the other was at the helm.
As we neared the North River on the other side, the floats got thicker and were indiscriminately strung across the channel. We could no longer sail around them as the channel narrowed. We needed to start the engine. However, Cathy discovered a raw water strainer half full of water when she went to start it. She took the helm while Dave tried to re-fill it in the rough conditions. He was partially successful, so we cranked her up, but kept the rpm’s low to prevent any further water loss. The winds continued to howl as we headed up the wide mouth of the river, but eventually the waves started to moderate. We continued motorsailing to Coinjock, getting a 35 knot gust just before docking there.
 We were glad to tie up, and we weren’t the only ones. Only 2 of the 10 sailboats that docked in Coinjock that night moved on the next morning. We were all beat, and had no interest in braving another wicked weather day, with forecasts of severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. That dock looked pretty good to us.
We spent our extra day taking a walk (we hadn’t been on land in a week), catching up on mail and other internet business, doing laundry, etc. When the storms rolled through as expected, our decision was easily justified.
 Sunrise north of Coinjock Coinjock to Great Bridge
With all the sailboats in Coinjock, we decided to leave as early as possible to make the free dock at Great Bridge before the possible competition. We were up and underway before sunrise, and docked north of the Great Bridge bridge by noon, even after losing time waiting for 2 of the 3 opening bridge’s scheduled openings.
Great Bridge is a convenient stop for boaters, with a grocery store, pharmacy, propane, restaurants, and even a Dairy Queen a short walk from the dock. While we were there, some boats docked just for an hour or 2 to go to dinner ashore and then head on. We took advantage of the many services on shore and spent some time getting to know our neighbors on the dock.
We were now only a short trip to Hampton, but we had a problem. Marianna was in our slip at Joy’s Marina. (Well, it wasn’t exactly our slip, but we had grown accustomed to it, since we stayed in it last summer and fall.) Lucky for us, Fred had arrived in Hampton the day before we made it to Great Bridge. He was preparing to move Marianna north, and had recruited a volunteer crew, Julie, to help him make the trip. They came to visit us in Great Bridge before heading out the next morning (Thursday, May 22). It was great to see them.
We also appreciated the residual effect of getting our slip back.
We headed out Friday morning for Hampton, clearing the lock at 8am and making it to our slip by 1pm. It was a mostly uneventful trip, except for dodging that aircraft carrier, docking in front of us. (There was that repeated warning about use of “deadly force” if you get closer than 500 yards, that motivates you to communicate with the escort boat to ensure we are not too close.) As an interesting coincidence, it was the same ship involved in “live fire exercises” off Beaufort as we headed in after our trip from Charleston.  Memorial Day with Bay Dreamer
Our arrival in Hampton coincided with Memorial Day weekend, which gave us the opportunity to join Steve and Krista on Bay Dreamer (our neighbors at Joy’s Marina) for a weekend in Mobjack Bay. As these things go, we were headed north into the wind on Saturday morning and south into the wind on Monday as we returned. Typical. We still got some sailing in (more on the return than on the trip up). With our raw water problems worse in higher seas, we were glad to be able to sail as much as we did. We also enjoyed a couple of nights anchoring in the Severn River (off Mobjack, not the one by Annapolis), over a perfect weekend.
We provided ferry service in our dinghy, but we were surprised that our reliable motor kept sputtering off. Dave decided to drain the gas and refill and the problems disappeared.
 The Pirates are Back!
One of the advantages of our early arrival in Hampton was that we would be there for the Blackbeard Pirate Festival. With our oldest grandson here for a visit, we saw pirates take over merchant ships, get overtaken by the British, and chased with women wielding frying pans. There was also a pirate encampment, and numerous battles by miniature pirates with swords (our grandson included).
Although Saturday’s high winds cancelled the fireworks, we joined Steve and Krista, her boys, Tom and Cathie from Interlude and the others on the docks at Joy’s Marina for a fun cookout as Saturday’s festival ended. On Sunday, we were joined by our son Adam, our grandson Jayden, his friend Kristina and her daughter Alexis for lunch and a shorter day at the festival. We then collapsed in a heap, grateful for a rest. It had been a long weekend.
Boat and other Stuff
Cathy took advantage of the unseasonably cool weather to apply Cetol to most of the exterior woodwork (the gunwales, toerails, side steps), getting 4 coats in time for the Pirate Festival. Dave decided to use our access to a dock to re-paint the anchor chain at 10 feet increments and place a cable tie every 20 feet with two cable ties at 100 feet. Using red Rustoleum paint, he would paint one link for every 10 feet of chain (so at 30 feet, he would paint 3 links). He also took the time to reverse the chain, re-splicing the rope to the other end of the chain.
We also ran the ozone generator throughout the boat since it had been a couple months since that had been done. Dave managed to visit the ophthalmologist for his final visit, and in the process got to experience Hampton’s bus system for the first time.
Staying Put
With a number of road trips planned over the next month, we will be in Hampton for a while, before moving again. After having such an eventful 2 weeks, it’s likely to calm down for a while as we do boat projects and visit family.
 After returning from Jarratt to Charleston on Thursday, May 1st, we continued to enjoy Charleston for a couple of weeks before heading out again. Our slip had to be vacated by May 15th to make way for the Charleston Harborfest, which would begin on the 16th. This large waterfront festival is centered at the Maritime Center and would make use of all the transient slips for festival boats. As our departure date approached, we began to watch the weather and prepare ourselves and Orion to get underway again. The festival’s deadline meant that staying longer for inclement weather was not an option. We had to make sure we took whatever window presented itself.
Doing Charleston
There are a lot of reasons why Charleston is one of our favorite ports and the Maritime Center is our marina of choice. The Charleston Maritime Center is right in the middle of things. Even before leaving the dock, you can take in the eye-popping view of the Cooper River’s commercial cargo ships, moving their goods in and out of port only yards off the dock. With a major dock just south of the marina, we are treated to a fascinating view of the business of moving cargo by ship – tugs gently nudging these city-block sized vessels 180 degrees and then docking them, cargo being unloaded and loaded, trains taking the goods away to their destinations. The Maritime Center hosts many outdoor festivities on spring weekends – weddings, corporate functions, fundraisers – that always promise to provide music and entertainment for the weekend evenings. Beyond the marina, most of Charleston’s historic district and services are within walking distance. We made many visits to the nearby Harris Teeter and didn’t miss a Saturday morning Farmer’s Market. For entertainment, we enjoyed the free Friday night movie in Market Square, wondered down King and Market Streets, enjoying the many praline samples, and enjoyed some Carolina BBQ and shrimp and grits at some local restaurants. The bus system gave us easy access to the stores outside downtown, and the all day pass has the added advantage of allowing us to ride the downtown trolleys through the historic district and along the Battery when we return from our excursions into the Charleston suburbs.  Middleton Plantation
We had spent a month in Charleston last Spring, so we weren’t as pressed to see the sights downtown, although we did enjoy a carriage ride around the historic district. We instead took a trip up the Ashley River (by city bus, not boat), heading out to see one of Charleston’s plantations, Middleton Plantation. This estate had been owned by a family which included both a signer of the Declaration of Independence and (a hundred years later) a signer of the Articles of Secession.
 The Middleton Oak, which has stood for almost a thousand years, suffered a serious blow in early April when a massive limb cracked off and threatened the stability of the tree. It is still being reinforced. The main attraction of Middleton these days is its original formal garden landscaping dating back to the 1700’s. The plantation house, like most of its neighbors on the Ashley River, had been burned by Union armies at the end of the Civil War and only a portion re-built afterwards. That’s why the focus was on the grounds, not the structures. There were also craftspeople interpreting the various skills needed on a plantation from blacksmithing to pottery to sheep-shearing, centered in the working buildings adjacent to the slave quarters. We took a couple of guided tours on our visit – one encompassing the formal gardens and one the life of the slaves on the plantation. There were also a number of animals roaming the grounds -- goats grazing on the lawn, peacocks strutting their plumage, cattle, water buffalo, sheep and horses -- completing the pastoral setting of this magnificent river estate. It was an idyllic setting, which was made all the more pleasant by a steady breeze that kept us cool as we wondered the grounds.
This was just one more place we found in Charleston that made us want to come back.
Boat Stuff
We’ve been told that our journals are becoming more of a travelog, and less the gritty boater’s almanac we started with (well maybe gritty is bit overreaching). At any rate, this is primarily because we aren’t doing as much work on the boat as in the early days. Hence, we have less to write about. In response to this criticism, we’ll try to do more work on the boat, so that we have something to write about here for those boaters among our readers. (You don’t really think we would work harder just to please our reader, do you?)
We continue to have problems with our engine raw water strainer “losing” water as we travel at “high” rpm’s (around 2600rpm). Acting on the possibility that this was due to a clogged raw water intake, we removed the hose from the base of the raw water strainer and tried to clear any possible blockage (using the sophisticated tool of shishkebob skewers). We found nothing, and were encouraged by the water flow in the process (which, of course, had to be mopped up afterward). We hired a diver before leaving Charleston to clean Orion’s hull and thru-hulls, which the diver ensured us were clear when he was through.
And, acting on a suggestion from Roger on Shango, Dave replaced the impeller just before we headed out for a potentially long run at sea. Sure enough, the impeller had a part of a blade missing, so he was hopeful that this might be a source of the problem. However, we wouldn’t know for sure until we put it to the test. One bad thing about our old impeller having a missing blade is that it begs the question, “where did the missing piece go?” Due diligence would require a more thorough dissection of the engine than we had time to pursue. (Also, Dave was suffering from a kidney stone that was making this more of a challenge.) So, we limited our maintenance to the change in impeller. We tested the engine after the change, running it in gear up to 3000 rpm’s and found that the water level stayed topped off. Maybe it would hold for the trip.
Having traveled a hundred hours since our last oil and fuel filter change, we were due for one by the time we reached Charleston. So we, of course, took care of these maintenance items while at the dock. Also, since we hadn’t been plugged in to shore power for more than a day in 3 months, Dave took a couple of opportunities to equalize the batteries.
Visits with Family and Friends
We had a wonderful surprise visit from Carolyn and Clint, Cathy’s sister and brother-in-law, who drove down from Sunset Beach for a day to visit us in Charleston. For supper that night, we were also joined by Deanna and Hank, Cathy’s cousins who live in Charleston. It was an unexpected family reunion, and the weather cooperated to make it a pleasant evening.
We also got a pleasant surprise when Roger and Amy on Shango arrived at the Maritime Center on Saturday (May 10th), having just returned to the US from the Exumas. They were on their way north and would be waiting out some nasty weather in Charleston before heading out again. As a result, we spent some time together catching up on each other’s winter travels (theirs went as far south as the Dominican Republic), and making plans for our respective trips north. If they aligned, we would have traveling companions.
Heading Out
We finally decided that Wednesday (May 14th) would be our departure date, with a weather window large enough to hopefully get us north as far as Beaufort, NC. If not, we would tuck in at Wrightsville Beach. This would be only a day early, so it was pretty good timing.
We left before sunrise Wednesday and made our way out the well-lit Charleston channel to sea. Amazingly, there was no large ship traffic as we left, and the conditions out in the ocean were as mild as forecast. The only disappointment was the fact that the wind didn’t pick up as forecast to allow us more help from the sails. But we made good enough time, that not only could we make Beaufort before nightfall, we could work our way into the South River (opposite Oriental), which would put us in an anchorage we knew and were comfortable with for an approaching cold front on Friday. By 6pm on Thursday afternoon, we were anchored in the South River, and settling in for a well-earned rest.
We’d come a lot farther a lot faster than we had planned, so we now had time to figure out what to do and where to go next.
One disappointing discovery on the 36 hour trip was that the raw water problem had not been eliminated. The level was dropping slightly over the course of the trip. We obviously haven’t found the true source of the problem yet.
 Dave and Jayden We made it as far north as Virginia over the past 2 weeks, but we cheated. We got there by train. We finally got to see our new grandson in person and spend time with him and our other grandsons (and their parents, of course). We left Orion in Charleston, having traveled there with Pat and Fred, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
 Paragraph.
 Dave greeting Pat and Fred as they arrive at Fernandina Paragraph.
 Dave providing water taxi service We lost no time in getting together to catch up and begin making plans for travel north. It looked like it would be at least 2 days before a weather window opened up to go outside to Charleston, so we had a couple of days in Fernandina to enjoy each other’s company. We took in the Amelia Island Museum of History, which had a wonderful guided tour. Among other things we learned was that the modern shrimping industry had it origins in Fernandina. Afterwards, Fred led us on a “death march” in search of an elusive Chinese buffet. We found it next to a Winn Dixie and Wal-mart, but it may be the last time Fred goes there on foot.
Fernandina to Charleston By Friday, the time for playing was over, we left before sun-up, the first 2 of a flood of boats (at least 20) that left Fernandina that day for points north. We were about an hour ahead of everyone, but could hear them all on the radio as we traveled through the night. A few continued on outside to Georgetown, a few headed to Beaufort, and a few came in behind us to Charleston. We arrived early Saturday morning in Charleston just behind the NorwegianCruise Line (NCL)’s Majesty cruise ship that had carried Cathy’s mom to Key West a few weeks earlier. We actually arrived a little too early, since we made it in about a half hour before the Maritime Center opened. So, we killed the time on a beautiful morning by taking our own harbor tour of the Charleston waterfront down to the Battery. Charleston in a Day
Once docked, we wasted no time in heading to the Farmer’s Market, where Pat stocked up on fresh vegetables and we took in the many vendors there. Although we were all tired, this was Pat and Fred’s first real access to a grocery store, so they spent the afternoon getting more provisions at Harris Teeter, while we worked out our plans for traveling to Virginia by land. Orion would stay put in Charleston for a month.
We got together on Marianna for a goodbye dinner Saturday evening. Pat and Fred were moving on the next day, and we were all tired, so it was of necessity an early night. We said a reluctant goodbye the next morning. Fred had decided to make an outside run, but was uncertain about the weather further north, so he wasn’t sure what destination he would commit to. Shortly after leaving, Dave radio’d him on the VHF to give him the weather forecast information from the internet. What he didn’t realize until well into his transmission was that a number of boats were listening in – and were very grateful for the information. He agreed with Fred to contact him in the afternoon again via ham radio, specifically to allow the other boats to listen in. Another Chris Parker (marine radio weather forecaster) is born.
All Aboard
We never expected to find that our best option for traveling to Virginia was going to be the train – a fast 6 ½ hour trip from Charleston to Petersburg. We just had to get to the station in Charleston, and our daughter would pick us up on the other end. Lynn and Ken from Restless were gracious enough to help us out with a ride to the station early Monday morning. We spent an hour catching up with this couple whom we had met first in Atlantic Highlands last summer. They had spent their first cruising winter in Charleston with their new grandchild and were soon to head north again the first of May, so we were glad we got to spend a little time with them before they were off.
As for the train ride, it was an easy relaxing trip up (and back). We hope to do this more often.  Family Reunion
So, we finally arrived in Jarratt to meet our newest grandson, Troy Brendan. He was growing fast, having his 1 month birthday while we were there. (No cake, though.) We also enjoyed spending time with Jayden and Droz, as they are getting bigger and smarter every day. We spent a day entertaining Jayden, which was a lot of fun and then Dave got to “walk home” with Droz from school. (Note that “home” is over 10 miles away. They stopped instead at the Dollar store.) We felt lucky to be in town for an awards night for one of Droz’s after school programs. It was a great visit with the entire family.
Goodbye - Again? To our surprise, we heard from Pat and Fred less than a week after we waved goodbye in Charleston. They had made it to Norfolk, where (to our good fortune and their bad fortune) weather was preventing them from making the outside run north. We were only an hour and a half away, so we drove to meet them and spend the afternoon with them at Waterside Marina in Norfolk. Their review of the weather and the amount of travel still ahead of them resulted in their decision to leave Marianna in Hampton for a month and drive home, so Pat could get her business restarted. Unfortunately, we discovered the next day that they had taken our slip at Joy’s Marina in Hampton. (Well, it’s not exactly ours, we just have become used to being there.) Maybe we gave them a little too much information.
In Charleston for a while
We’ll spend the next 2 weeks in Charleston, when the Maritime Festival clears out the marina, and we need to start moving north again. Until then, we won’t mind enjoying this wonderful city.
 Entering Key Biscayne by the Cape Florida light Well, we’ve come as far north in Florida as we can go – Fernandina Beach-- but we still don’t want to do Georgia on the inside. So, we’re waiting for a weather window to go straight to Charleston on the outside. One side benefit of waiting is that we’re likely to see Pat and Fred who are due to arrive in Fernandina on the 16th.
We’re leaving . . . now?
As we went to bed Monday night the 31st of March, we had resigned ourselves to at least 1 more day in Marathon. We weren’t seeing the weather to leave on the 1st even though everything else about Orion and her crew was ready to go. But Dave was up early checking the weather on Tuesday, when he said to Cathy, I think we should go. Go? Now? It was about 8am already and we needed to get to Rodriguez Key, about a 50 mile trip. We still had to make a run to shore, get the dinghy stowed and strip off the solar panels in order to get underway. That meant we would get underway by 9am if we were lucky. There wasn’t even time to let Slow Dancin’ or Fortunate know of our sudden decision.
Dave ran ashore and Cathy readied the boat for getting underway. When he returned and we were hauling the dinghy, Rusty from Slow Dancin’ buzzed over in his dinghy to confirm the obvious and say goodbye. We wished each other well and promised to look for the other up the waterway. Similarly, we waved goodbye to Barb and Dave and Fortunate and headed out for the bridge and the Hawk Channel. After the bridge tender urged us to visit again, we made our way to the turn east up the channel between the outer reef and the Keys. This was going to be the worst part of the trip, a slog into 20 knot east winds and 2-4 seas. It’s not weather we would normally have picked, but the promise of calmer weather and more favorable winds as the day progressed – and the grandbaby at the end of all this – made it worth the uncomfortable ride early on. (At one point, some of the unstowed items still in the cockpit rattled loose, and our dinghy light slid overboard before we could even react.) Sure enough, as we turned to a more northerly course, we had moderating winds and the right angle to motorsail the last 10 miles to Rodriguez Key.
The next day’s conditions made the slog out of Marathon worth it. We barely motored at all, sailing all the way from Rodriguez Key to Key Biscayne. We even considered going on to Fort Lauderdale or Lake Worth, but once outside the protection of the reef, the waves were building and the clouds were looking more ominous than forecasts were saying they should. So we tucked into the Biscayne Bay via “Stiltsville”, the inlet so named for the houses on stilts that line each side.  Miami skyline from the ICW Finding the Gulf Stream
We got a late start on Thursday out of Key Biscayne. The weather forecast gave us some concern, but since Fort Lauderdale was a relatively short run, and we could do the first 10 miles on the ICW, we decided to poke our heads out and give it a try. On the off chance that we might find the right conditions to keep going, Cathy went down below for a nap to try to get us on a pattern for an overnight.
 Cruise Line offices on Fishermans Channel However, once in the Miami inlet, any thought of napping was literally tossed aside. Orion was slamming into the waves that were being built by the east wind opposing the ebbing tide. As Dave angled north to ease the impact a little, the angle on the beam caused the boat to rock everything loose down below and up in the cockpit. The swim shower rolled end over end and fell out of the cockpit to the floor at the bottom of the companionway stairs. Cathy was scrambling around below trying to stow things more securely without becoming another victim in the process. She finally poked her head out on deck to see what was causing the ruckus below.
We were making our way out of the inlet, having turned well before the sea buoy, to get a few miles offshore, with the hopes of picking up the northerly Gulf Stream current. NOAA had reported it only 8 miles off Fort Lauderdale. Within 3 miles of shore, we were already seeing 10 knots of speed. Orion doesn’t go 10 knots under power. We decided to put out a furled headsail and kill the engine. We were still making better than 8.5 knots. The waves had moderated since leaving the inlet. Although we were still getting rocked a bit, it was more manageable. It didn’t take us long to start doing some math. At 8 knots, even with our late departure, we could actually make it to Lake Worth before dark. That would gain us a full day of travel north. Since the Gulf Stream was supposed to be even closer to shore at Lake Worth, it seemed achievable.
Sure enough, the current stayed with us up the coast, and we had our anchor set by 7:30 in the Lake Worth anchorage, having done in 10 hours, what had taken 14 to do in reverse.
Don’t you love the Gulf Stream.
Paragraph.  Sunrise over ocean off Lake Worth If It's Friday, It Must Be Vero Beach
So, what was next? We had continued to listen to the forecast, and the winds were supposed to be less intense on Friday, so a run outside from Lake Worth to Fort Pierce seemed reasonable, assuming we were up before dawn, not like yesterday. At this point, the Gulf Stream and the Florida coast diverge, so we wouldn’t get the favorable currents on this trip. Instead, we did a modest 5.5 knots under the headsail as we moved north along the coast. As we traveled, we listened to the boats on the VHF doing the inside run, navigating all 8 opening bridges. We didn’t miss it at all. What surprised us was the conversations about 25 knot winds. We weren’t seeing anything like that. Hmmm ….
At about 3pm we were making for the Fort Pierce sea buoy, when we started realizing the southeast winds that had been helping us along, were going to make for a wicked run up the inlet. The winds were also increasing as we headed for shore, which was unusual. Dave carefully lined up for the inlet, trying to stay to port to offset the effect of the waves. As we got heeled over with each wave, we tried to make out the boat traffic ahead of us. We couldn’t believe it, but a sailboat was heading out the inlet. Were they crazy? This would make it a little more interesting. Dave was having trouble reading their progress as they first lined up for a starboard to starboard pass, and then starting turning to port, which put them right on our path. It took us a few seconds to realize that they were turning around. Smart move. I guess they realized it wasn’t going to be worth it.
 Stowaways on deck After another 12 miles up the ICW (and 1 opening bridge), we came into Vero and had the joy of rafting to another unattended boat in 25 knot winds. We don’t recommend this to anyone. As Cathy and Dave scurried up and down the deck, there was something squishing beneath our feet. To her horror, Cathy looked down and realized there were about a dozen dead fish on the deck. She had been stepping on them in the haste of fending off the boats. Ugh! They were flying fish that jumped aboard on the outside run.
It's always something.
Inside or Out?
We decided to wait out a few stormy days in Vero, which included some violent thunderstorms. On Saturday, we visited with the couple on Pearl, whom we had met in Marathon and their friends on Freedonia. They arrived the day after we did, having made a longer outside run to Fort Pierce from Marathon. Finally, we decided it was time to move on, but that we weren’t going to get the wind to travel outside. So we committed to an inside run up to Fernandina Beach. We still had hopes of connecting to Pat and Fred, who were likely to come in at Cape Canaveral. That meant we had to get north of them.
 NASA's Haulover Canal bridge on the way to Mosquito Lagoon. We made a long day’s trip to Titusville on Tuesday (April 8) and then a shorter day on Wednesday to Daytona Beach. Tuesday just had a lot of strong winds on the nose. But Wednesday was going to take us through both shallow water before the New Smyrna bridge and Ponce Inlet, where numerous boats had gone aground in the fall. We wanted to hit this at high tide. We called BoatUS in Daytona Beach and they said that a dredge was working in the inlet, but that going through at high tide, we should be fine. They also said to avoid the shallow water near New Smyrna that we should take Sheephead Cut. When we started listening to boats ahead of us on Wednesday, BoatUS had a different take about the inlet. They initially were advising boats to go through the inlet, not the ICW. Then the Coast Guard said some buoys were off station in the inlet. We called BoatUS for clarification and they actually rode through both the inlet and the ICW to check them out. Their final recommendation was: take the ICW.
 Sheephead Cut’s deep water was a welcome change We took Sheephead Cut with lots of deep water and then made it to the ICW around Ponce Inlet right at high tide. We asked a trawler in front of us to let us know if they found any shallow water. By hugging the red marks, we were doing fine until we got close to the dredge near marker 6. The dredge was taking up the entire channel, which was forcing us out of the channel to get by. A sportfishing boat had already gone aground ahead of us. The captain of the dredge was waving us over to starboard. We got so close, we should have had fenders, but we didn’t go aground. The water depths dropped to 7 ½ feet and then started rising again. We made it out of the skinny water and breathed a sigh of relief.
We were glad to pull into our slip at Halifax Harbor. Hopefully, the worst was behind us. We got in early enough to take in yet another tour at Angell and Phelps chocolate factory and then went back to town for a minor league baseball game featuring the Daytona Cubs vs. Palm Beach that night.
Daytona to Fernandina We left early on Thursday for St. Augustine, the first in a long line of sailboats at the opening bridge just outside the marina. We quickly increased the distance between us, so we would not have to wait at each opening bridge for a fleet of sailboats. We did enjoy talking to the other sailboats – Smiles, Hananiah, Oz, Cygnet -- exchanging information about the waterway and weather forecasts as we moved along. We passed through St. Augustine and made it upriver to Cap’s Seafood Restaurant, where we tied up for the night. It was a much busier place than in the fall, but the food was just as good. We helped several other smaller boats dock and cast off before putting in for the night. It’s a great stop.  Traveling at low water most of the day from St. Augustine to Fernandina, we were glad to avoid this boat’s fate. On Friday, we headed out with warnings of fog, that closed in within a few miles after we set out. It was never so thick that we couldn’t pick out the next mark or nearby boats, but it did require more concentration. With the current against us the entire run, we made slower progress, but arrived in Fernandina around 4pm on a mooring next to several of our traveling companions.
Fernandina to where?
We still had hopes of making it to Charleston before leaving the boat to drive north to Virginia. However, the weather forecasts made that seem increasingly unlikely. Since we had a few days to watch the weather and since Pat and Fred were now in the US, having arrived in Cape Canaveral on Saturday, we decided to bide our time and wait for the weather – and Marianna – before making our next move. With any luck it will be Charleston.
In the meantime, we are enjoying Fernandina Beach, which is a lovely town to spend time in if you’ve got to be stuck somewhere.  It was a bit of contrast to see this cruise ship loading with passengers off the Fernandina Harbor dock.
 We were expecting the call, but we thought it would still be a few more weeks in coming. Easter Sunday night, after we had just hung up with our daughter, she called back to say she was on her way to the hospital. Troy Brendan Hawkins was born the next morning at 9:19am. We are thrilled to welcome him, but now the pressure was on. We had to get north as soon as we could, so we could go see him. It was time to wake up and get moving.
Running down the checklist
We wanted to move the boat far enough north that we could leave it for a week or 2 and have a reasonable drive to southern Virginia. From Marathon, that drive would take 2 days. So we figured we needed to get as far north as St. Mary’s, GA or Charleston, SC, where we knew of places where the rates were reasonable for a week’s stay and we would have a more reasonable drive.
Sitting in one place for 2 months, cruisers get lazy. It’s easy to get water, fuel, groceries, and since you aren’t moving the boat, you don’t have to worry too much about the detritus that accumulates on galley counters, in the cockpit on the nav station and other places that will not be secure once the boat gets moving. As for the working parts of the boat, such as the engine. . . what’s that? Well, it’s not that bad, but you get my point. We had to whip the boat and ourselves back into shape, which generated a flurry of activity. Since this might be a useful checklist for other boaters, we put in that form below:
1. Fill up with the good stuff and dump the bad
Re-fill water tanks
We chose to do this by making several dinghy runs to fill jugs, which we poured into the water tanks on the boat. We overestimated a little and ended up with a couple of extra jugs – one of which we used before we left.
Top off Orion’s diesel fuel tank and re-fill jugs on deck
We prefer to use our diesel jugs on the boat to fill the tank and then re-fill them for re-filling further up our route. This prevents the problems of the high speed pumps causing overflows and Dave can usually hear the tank fill, so he knows it’s full, without overflowing.
Re-provision groceries
We had access to a car for a day, so we could get all the heavy stuff to the boat. We waited until a couple of days before our likely travel date to get the fresh groceries.
Change generator oil
Before getting our solar panels and discovering the problem with the battery terminal, we had run the generator for dozens of hours in an attempt to equalize the batteries. This meant the generator reached its hundred hours of use threshold earlier than expected, which meant an oil change was required. Doing it in Marathon gave us the advantage of an easy place to re-cycle the used oil.
Re-fill propane
This involved a dinghy ride and a short walk to the nearest gas station. Thank goodness for our wheeled cart!
Pump-out holding tank
Although Marathon provides a pump-out boat, which comes to the boat on a regular schedule, we made arrangements to alter this schedule to have our last pump-out on the day before we (hopefully) would be leaving.
2. Get the working parts of the boat ready to work
Check engine fluids (oil, water, fuel filters)We had been running the engine on at least a weekly basis, under load, since we arrived in Marathon. (We typically did this by running the engine in reverse for about 15 minutes.) Therefore, there were no surprises here. The oil level was full, the fuel filters clean and the raw water was full. Dave checked the belts and tightened them as necessary and checked the antifreeze level, which was fine.
Check out batteries
We have lead-acid batteries, so Dave checked the water level in each of the cells to ensure they were topped off. Then, between the solar panels and the generator, ensured they were fully charged. This included a couple of batteries we typically have off-line for use in emergencies. If we ended us sailing a lot while underway (which we wanted to do), we wouldn’t be as likely to run into a problem with having enough power to run the instruments, lights, etc, requiring us to run the engine unnecessarily.
Check out lights
For most lights (bow and stern navigation lights, steaming light), this was as simple as turning them on to verify they were working. However, Dave had purchased another LED anchor lightbulb in hopes that this would fit our fixture on top of the mast. So, Cathy made a trip up the mast in hopes she could finally be successful in changing the lightbulb. Once more, it didn’t work. The lightbulb seemed to fit the fixture, but it wouldn’t light. The lightbulb itself worked, but not in the fixture. We ended up simply replacing the existing incandescent lightbulb with a new one and went back to the drawing board on the LED light. Maybe someday . . .
3. Clean everything you can
Clothes
It’s funny how you feel like you’ll never have a chance to do laundry again once you get underway. At any rate, Cathy took advantage of another friend’s offer of a car to do some laundry at the bigger facilities at a nearby Laundromat.
Boat bottom
Although Dave now had the equipment to do this himself, with his eye inflammation, he wanted to take no chances of picking up something in the water that would cause the situation to regress. So, we hired a diver (Barnacle Bill) to come and dive on the boat. He did a very thorough job, working on the boat for at least an hour to clean the bottom, running gear, thru-hulls and change the zinc. (The old one was in surprisingly good shape.) Dave discovered that it was Barnacle Bill’s birthday, too (making him easily old enough to be his father.) So, while he worked on the boat, Cathy made him some “birthday” brownies, with a candle in them, which made him smile.
Dinghy
The place to do this in Marathon is on Sombrero Beach. We dinghy’d down Sister’s Creek from the mooring field, beached the dinghy, emptied it, removed the motor and flipped it on the sand. Then we started scraping. And scraping. And scraping. Two months in the warm waters of Boot Key Harbor were not kind to the dinghy bottom. After almost an hour with both of us working on it, we decided it was good enough. (Maybe it would be worth investing in dinghy bottom paint.) A final scrub would be required when we hauled the dinghy on board to leave, but it would be much easier with the hard work done.
Air
Clean the air? Well, with Cathy’s allergies, we have to run the ozone generator inside the boat to reduce the mold spores floating around. We took advantage of Dave’s time charging the batteries with Honda generator to provide the 110 power to run the ozone generator in the aft cabin and main saloon. And Cathy could tell the difference. It works!
Cockpit window
These have to be treated carefully, but they can get amazing dirty both inside and out from just sitting. Cathy used vinegar and water to clean them so we wouldn’t have any sun glare while underway.
4. Plan the trip
Prepare and load route(s)
Although we should already have most of these routes loaded from our trip down, Dave noted that the gulf stream had moved in closer to shore in recent days. This meant that we might be able to take advantage of its strong northerly current on any possible offshore runs we made. If so, we could make some great time going north. He mapped out some routes that would take advantage of this on a number of hops north from Marathon to Lake Worth. These could be activated if we found the weather.
Check weather
It’s amazing how careless you get about checking weather when you don’t move anywhere. We became vigilant about listening and recording the NOAA weather forecasts on VHF, listening to Chris Parker on the ham radio and checking the forecasts online. We had been experiencing almost a week of strong northeast winds. They would need to be coming from the south or west to make for a comfortable trip east up the keys to the mainland and then anything but north to travel northwest up the Florida coast.
Talk to potential cruising companions
With the need to travel north quickly, we wouldn’t be able to travel with Fortunate and Slow Dancin’, who would be traveling more slowly north. So, we started talking to others in the harbor who had plans to go north. There was a buddy boat board in the marina office that gave the boat names of others planning to leave around the same time. We spoke to Mary Lee, but they were traveling with another boat that wanted to travel the ICW through the Keys to Miami. This was too shallow for us to consider. We also spoke to Solveig of Lorn, a Scottish couple who wanted to travel up to Fort Lauderdale to leave the boat. They were more likely to travel on our schedule, so we committed to staying in touch. We also started trying to talk to Pat and Fred on Marianna on the ham radio to see if we could hook up with them. It looked like it might be possible that our paths could cross, but it was too early to tell. While listening for Marianna, we heard Bonnie Lass as well and spoke to them briefly while they were in Wardewick Well in the Exumas.
6. Miscellaneous other stuff
Stow loose items
Cathy worked her through the boat, organizing the various cabins, getting everything possible put. It would mean less “activity” below in large seas offshore.
Haircut
It was hard to let the easy access to haircuts pass us by before we left. There were 2 or 3 boaters in the harbor who gave haircuts, so we both headed to shore one Sunday afternoon and got a haircut under the tree by the marina. Connie on Te Oigo (“I Hear You”) did a great job for both us.
Get clearance from the eye doctor
Before we could commit to a travel date, Dave needed to have his final check with the ophthalmologist he had been seeing for his iritis. This happened on March 31st, when he was given, if not exactly a clean bill of health, an OK that things were looking good enough for him to travel. He would need a couple of follow-up visits over the next couple of months, but all signs were that the healing would continue as long as we were vigilant with the drops over the remaining 6 weeks. Happily, this schedule had changed from a punishing 19 hourly drops a day to only 6, with a schedule to reduce further in the next few days. This put us in pretty good shape to move once we found the weather. The only big thing left to do would be to stow the dinghy and motor on deck and take off the solar panels, but these would have to wait until just before we left, since we used them so often.
What about some fun stuff?
It wasn’t all about work the last 2 weeks. We managed to squeeze in some last minute fun with other boaters and on shore. Before Watercolor left the harbor, Jed and Page invited us over for dinner. It turned into a very special singing evening, when Bruce and Connie from Te Oigo (i.e., I Hear You) joined us. Bruce is an amazing talent on the guitar and Connie can sing any song in harmony. We threw every song we knew at Bruce who managed to play them all, and we sang along with sometimes more enthusiasm than quality. But it was a lot of fun. On Easter Sunday afternoon, we once again joined Jed and Page for a trip to Sombrero Beach. It’s a beautiful beach and an easy trip by dinghy there. We just hadn’t made it there before. Before they left, Dave helped Jed reconnect his SSB radio and we managed to talk them over it to confirm it was working. Small payment for the good company.
We also managed to get in a final Meet ‘n’ Greet at the City Marina, where we met the couple from Dora Jean and got to hear the musical talents of Robin from Solveig of Lorn and Bruce from Te Oigo, who accompanied a local boater, Dave Johnson, as they played for the gathering. Their playing reminded us that there are some extremely talented musicians in the harbor.  We also enjoyed the local United Methodist Church, attending Sunday services including Palm Sunday and Easter. We were joined by Rusty and Joy from Slow Dancin’ on Easter for not only the service but also the church’s wonderful Easter breakfast. We went back again on Thursday for a J.A.M session of the church-sponsored youth jazz band, and then again on Friday for a fish fry. It was a lively church community.
And we made a couple of final visits to the American Legion, which has a great breakfast at a great price. We tried their Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches on Thursday night, but decided breakfast was the better meal.
Finally, we made a couple of road trips. Cathy’s mom, Louise, took a cruise that arrived in Key West on a Thursday evening. We rented a car and traveled the 50 miles to Key West (taking in the Bat Tower on the way). We met the boat and Louise’s traveling companions from Brevard, NC. We managed to take in the performers at sunset on Mallory Square and eat a piece of key lime pie before saying goodbye again. Our second road trip was a bus ride to Big Pine Key about 10 miles west of Marathon. We took in the Big Pine flea market, where we bought some fresh produce and boat supplies. Then we sampled another kind of key lime pie (this one had raspberry in it) at the Key West Key Lime Pie factory (in Big Pine - I know it’s confusing.) We decided key lime pie was better without the raspberry.  Little Troy meets his family Primed and Ready
So, now we’re ready with clearance from the doctor and everything readied on board. We’re just waiting for the right weather, and we will head north to get a first hand look at little Troy.
Primed and Ready So, now we’re ready with clearance from the doctor and everything readied on board. We’re just waiting for the right weather, and we will head north to get a first hand look at little Troy.
 Whatever tentative plans we had for traveling beyond Marathon to explore more of the Keys were put on hold after an unexpected change in Dave’s health. Although he’s well on the road to recovery now, we spent the last two weeks focused on getting him there. With eyes that were sensitive to light, he has been trying to avoid the bright light of the sun, but we were able to make use of its power on the boat in other ways.
 Ye Look Like a Pirate, Matey!
It began simply enough. Dave’s right eye became red and inflamed, which we first noticed on a Saturday 2 weeks ago. As it became worse on Sunday, Dave located an local ophthalmologist within walking distance and visited his office first thing Monday morning. The initial diagnosis pointed to a few possible causes, but nothing definite. However, the treatment for all of them was the same. We began a regimen of drops in his eye every 2 hours during the day along with some soaking of his eye to deal with any infection. He was to go back in a week for another check.
Unfortunately, Dave wasn’t responding well to the initial treatment. So the doctor added another drop to add to his treatment the next day. This one kept the eye dilated. This, plus the underlying ailment, caused the eye to be extremely sensitive to light. After trying some rather unusual methods of covering the eye, which we didn’t manage to catch with a camera, he finally bought an eye patch, which worked well, but made him look the part of a pirate. Aargh!
After some initial improvement, the eye got increasing more painful. It was just his luck that it worsened over the weekend. By the time of his Monday morning appointment, he was anxiously seeking some relief. It turned out that the diagnosis became more specific as iritis, and part of the reason for the pain was the fact that the iris was attached to the lens in one spot, causing it to open in an oblong shape. The doctor detached the iris, and again switched medications. Dave was in the unlucky 10% that didn’t respond to the original treatment. That now meant we needed to put drops in the eye every hour, and although he didn’t require that we do it 24 hours a day, the closer we came to that goal the better. The eye’s immune system had overreacted to a perceived threat in the eye and we needed to get it back under control. If this didn’t work, we would have to travel to Miami to see a specialist and perhaps he would need to get a shot directly in the eye. Ouch!
We were now joined at the hip. Every hour during the day and usually 3 times during the night, Cathy was applying the drops. Although a little exhausting, the rewards were in the improvement in Dave’s eye. By the next visit (now only 2 days later), the eye no longer hurt and its light sensitivity was decreasing. By Friday, the doctor was beginning to discuss the possibility of weaning him off the medicine. It looks like we’ve turned a corner, but we’re still not sure what the future holds. Any overnight trips north will be impossible with both of us up every hour to administer drops. The next week should be tell us a lot about what he’s looking at long term.
Half-power
Spending so much time on a mooring ball and away from shore power had Dave monitoring the batteries health frequently. He wasn’t liking what he saw. The voltage kept dropping faster than made sense. In the past month, we had twice run the generator for long hours (11 at one stretch), sometimes on successive days to allow them to be equalized. The voltage still dropped faster than it should. In the process of reconnecting the batteries after one of these attempts, Dave discovered that the positive terminal on one of the batteries was broken. This meant that 2 of the 4 batteries in our house bank was offline, and probably had been for a long time. How long was hard to say.
It started to explain the funny readings on our battery monitor. It thought we had 440 amps available, when in fact we had only 220. As a result, we were running the pair that was online way down beyond what is recommended. This was not good. Since batteries in a bank should be the same approximate age, if we had to replace any 2 of the batteries, we would likely have to replace all 4. We weren’t sure we wanted to start shopping for batteries now.
Dave called his contact at Trojan to see what he recommended regarding the broken terminal. He said that it might be possible to repair it by insertiing a bolt into the soft lead of the terminal. This turned out to be simple enough to install, and the batteries came back online.
 The first two solar panels installed on the foredeck. Solar Power to the Rescue
Even with the repairs to the battery, Dave still wasn’t sure what the health of the batteries were. Although the battery monitor was no longer showing the disturbing voltage drops, Dave was reluctant to let the amps drop too low before recharging. If we could take advantage of the sunlight in the lengthening Florida days, we could be charging the batteries throughout the day. He found what he was looking for in some flexible solar panels. Although these are no longer made, he found some used ones on eBay that would mount easily on Orion’s foredeck and then plug into the DC outlet in the cockpit to start feeding power to the boat from the sun. How easy is that!
The panels arrived within 24 hours of his ordering them, and as Dave eagerly unwrapped them and prepared to hook them up, he had to stop. The plug at the end of the wire from the panels was an 8-pin connector. Nothing like the plug he expected to see. Since we were still experimenting with this new source of power, he didn’t want to invest a lot of money in rewiring these panels to plug into the DC outlet. So he started looking for a cheap interim solution nearby.
He found it in a trailer wiring harness. He wired one end into a DC plug and then wired the two panels together into the other end. What the wires strung along the deck and through the cockpit lack in elegance, they make up for in utility. The panels began pumping up to 4 amps an hour into the battery bank. Woohoo!
 Wiring the solar panels' harness Of course, Dave was now hooked as he watched the solar power meet and exceed our daytime usage. What if we got 2 more? Cathy was starting to wonder about placing all of these panels out of the way on board, but Dave was on a roll. So, he ordered 2 more. Since these will generate more power which could exceed the boat’s draw, he now is looking for a controller to regulate the power put into the battery before hooking them all up.
It’s still a work in progress, but so far it’s looking promising.
 Fran and Floyd from Prior Ties at their goodbye party Socializing on Hold
With Dave’s eye problems, our socializing was obviously extremely limited. We managed to make a trip to Docksides to say goodbye to Fran and Floyd, a couple from British Columbia who we met while here. We were also excited to greet Jed and Page on Watercolor as they joined us in the harbor this past week. While Dave was recovering, we mostly caught up on our DVD’s in the evening.
 As Dave’s eyes appeared to be on the mend, we were able to fulfill our volunteer obligation at the Marathon Seafood festival, where we manned a booth to fill out raffle tickets. We enjoyed the seafood and some of the local musicians that performed in the large amphitheater for the festival.
Good news from the home front
At the end of February, we received some thrilling news that our many prayers for the needs of a family member were answered. Bill (Cathy’s brother-in-law’s brother) was in need of a kidney, and had been terribly disappointed when he had lost an opportunity to receive a donation earlier in February, when he contracted pneumonia. After this devastating disappointment, what happened at the end of February can only be described as a miracle.
Bill received a phone call on Thursday night to be ready for a transplant the following day. He was going to be the 9th recipient in a chain of donations initiated by a donor in Toledo Ohio wanting to donate a kidney, with no recipient in mind, just a “heartfelt call to give in a way that would make a difference.” Bill had to have a healthy qualified donor in order to receive the kidney. Again he was blessed by the generosity of others, in this case a fellow church member. So, the operation proceeded, with Bill receiving the gift of a donor from Johns Hopkins. All of the donors and recipients were anonymous.
In the weeks since the operation, Bill has seen dramatic improvement in his health. And the rest of the family is still trying to absorb all that has happened to make it possible. If you would like to learn more about organ donation, find out more at this website: http://www.livingorgandonor.org/
|
