Current Position: 32 28.748 080 36.850 Lucy Point Creek, Coosaw River, SC Hi everyone, Well a lot has happened in the past several weeks since I last wrote. We stopped in Georgetown, SC for a day or two, since we really like the town and the people. Then we found out that on the Saturday they were hosting the 23rd Annual Georgetown Wooden Boat Show, so we stayed for a few more days. For those who have never been to one, you should try to make it sometime. There are lots and lots of old wooden boats, invariably for sale, brought in on trailers and lined up along the street. The town shuts down part of the main street for it! There are both power and sail boats, some radio controlled model boats, various nautically themed jewelry and art shacks, food and beverages etc etc. It’s a lot of fun and was well attended, downtown being absolutely packed. But maybe the best part of the show is the race to build a rowing dink. There are teams of two people, they all have the same materials and plans and have 4 hours to complete their craft. After the judging phase the boats are raced across the creek, in heats, with both builders having to run a leg. We took our dink out and anchored just by the turning line. It’s great to watch, especially if they didn’t use enough caulk around the seams, because then the boat leaks. Some old cruising friends of ours, EZ Breezes pulled into town one day and we had a nice time visiting with them and their cruising friends and catching up on old times. And of course we had to go to the seafood market and buy some shrimp. The shrimp boats had just finished unloading and some of the by catch was grouper, so we bought some of that as well. Georgetown is one of our favorite stopping points along the ICW. We took the opportunity to go to the grocery store while we were there, just to top up. From there we moved south. So Sunday morning I had started up the engine, and we were letting it warm up when Holly smelled something burning, not a good thing on a boat. We quickly shut everything down and began looking for the cause. We could smell burnt wiring, but nothing felt hot. I was looking in the lazzerettes and noticed that there was a drip from one of the coolant hoses, and it was dripping right onto the alternator! I replaced the hose clamp, which had rusted through, and everything seemed to be OK, we couldn’t smell any more burning, but the alternator was cranking out the amps. Our battery monitor system was showing an open circuit on battery 2, our starting battery, but I could find where it was. We decided to move on and see if things got better or worse, and luckily things got better. I don’t think we fried anything and the system seems to be working OK. On our way into Charleston, we got a call from our friends Bobbie and Francie on Barefootin’. They were supposed to leave but hadn’t gotten away from the docks yet. They invited us to tie up next to them in Shem Creek, just north of Charleston harbor. It was a fun couple of days, they had a car and drove us all over getting parts, food and wine, yes there is a Trader Joes in Mt Pleasant. But then it was time to leave. The weather gods were playing with us again with a strong low developing south of Jamaica, which would become tropical within a couple of days. Bobbie offered us to stay rafted up, but no way with a named storm coming. But we were able to figure out why they call this section the Low Country. I was looking through our charts, trying to find a nice creek with deep water and high banks, and there just aren’t very many. We needed a good hurricane hole, but apparently down here they just move the boats into marinas, tie them up and leave. With Bobbie’s help we decided to head towards Beaufort, SC. The forecasters were predicting tropical storm force winds up the entire east coast, and we needed to get somewhere secure. They had all indicated that the winds would be mostly out of the northerly quadrant and backing from East to NE to N to NW over several days. Lucy Point Creek seemed to have the a nice anchorage at the northern end, so that was our decision. And it turned out to be a fine choice. The creek is deep and wide with lots of anchor space, the northern shore has a little rise to it and many tall trees, handy for blocking the wind. We set out three anchors, just in case, roughly 120 degrees apart with 150 feet of rode. It was a little disconcerting that the tidal range in here is so big, around 7-8 feet, but we got settled in nicely. And so we hunkered down, keeping up with the storms progress via NOAA and the SSB. We have been very lucky, the maximum winds we felt were around 20kts, the water had barely a ripple on it, and it has been a most comfortable anchorage. There were lots of higher winds, but we were protected by the land and trees to our north. It’s lucky that we had no southerly winds, because we are completely open from that direction! Today we have spent getting the genoa back up, putting the BBQ back on the rail, getting up 2 of the three anchors and basically getting our boat back together again. It’s been a full day’s work. Tomorrow we will move on to Beaufort, SC. We have a couple of packages waiting there for us, and it’ll be a good opportunity to take shore showers and catch up on laundry and groceries. From Beaufort, we will head rapidly down to Florida. We’ve been delayed quite a bit and the Bahamas are drawing us closer. I’d like to cross over by mid-November, so we need to make some southing and off shore from Beaufort to Fernandina Beach is a nice hop. We hope everyone is safe and sound with not too much hurricane damage. Take care Rob and Holly S/V Hampshire Rose ~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~ _/)~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~

Thank goodness Sandy was a bit of a non issue for us. Let's hope Norfolk makes out as well! More later, Holly & Rob

Charleston and Mt. Pleasant 32 47.4N 079 53.0W.

 

We arrived in Shem Creek about 2pm on Monday the 22nd at the dock where our good friends Bobby, Francie & Kippen have their boat.  Shem Creek is a working creek with many, many shrimp boats but it also hosts a number of waterfront eateries too!  Rob & I had explored those on a previous visit so we were anxious to see the the Barefootin’s had planned for us.   As usual we were not disappointed!  That night we feasted on a casserole made by their daughter Hayes.  It was fantastic. The next day we went to The Village Bakery where Hayes works and had lunch.  Let’s just say that if you find yourself in Mt. Pleasant, SC make it a point to find The Village Bakery!

We did the usual, provision and West Marine run.  Luckily for us there is a Trader Joe’s there too.  After some discussion it was decided that we would all leave the next day.  Having decided that – it was time to see some more cruising friends, Jim & Betsy on Smiles.  We all met at a great Irish Pub called Dunleavy's on Sullivan’s Island.  Lets just say that a fine time was had by all!

This fall has been the Fall of the Wild!  As you recall, we saw “The 3 Bears” previously and yesterday a deer was swimming across when I called to Rob which startled the deer who then swam back to shore.  A few years ago I almost hit a deer (6 pointer!).  Later there was an osprey who had caught a fish and had a seagull in hot pursuit of a free meal.  It was neat when the flew right next to the boat. This morning a dolphin was swimming near the boat.  Now this is not an unusual occurrence.  Years ago my friend Dawn told me the dolphin like to be whistled to.  When I whistled to the one this morning he stopped, put his head out of the water and watched the boat!  For about 3-4 seconds we just looked at each other!  Too cool.

 

There always has to be a bump in the plans and ours is named Sandy.  Rob & I decided to move on even though we were invited to stay at Shem Creek or go to Isle of Palms.  Currently we are underway to Lucy Point Creek were it appears to be protected.

 

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Photos from The Wooden Boat Show–Georgetown, SC 10/20/2012

Be sure to try the Grouper recipe! 

Wooden Boat Show

As usual our time here in Georgetown has been fantastic!  Just wanted to do a quick post while we have internet.  We have not yet decided if we will leave tomorrow or stay and if we leave, will we go offshore to Charleston or down the ICW. The sunset is from the anchorage here in town.   As you can see the Boat Show was a great success.  .

The boat building competition was great.  About 15 were finished and then they had to race them.  Lets say that the best builders were not always the best rowers!  We watched from the dink and did not have the camera.  That’s a shame because it was great.

Will write more later.

All the Best,  Holly and Rob

about:Tabs

Current Position: Georgetown, SC Hi everyone, Our stutter step start has finally ended, I hope. I don’t know why but when we do not use the boat for a couple of months it takes several stutter steps to get going again. This time we have replaced the oil cooler for the V drive and put in a new universal joint. And that was just to get past Great Bridge. But Hampshire Rose has been doing us well since then. I won’t brag about anything because I don’t want to tempt fate and have something else go wrong. From Great Bridge we motored along the ICW, through Coinjock (without stopping for prime rib) and anchored at the entrance to the Albemarle Sound. The winds were light, and although they were forecast to come around to the south, they were still going to be light. Well they came around from the south and blew us awake. It was not too bad, enough that we couldn’t go back to sleep so we were up around 6am, making coffee and underway by 7:15. The run across was uneventful, though the winds stayed on the nose all the way. We entered the Alligator River and were able to put some sail up and by the time we made the swing bridge we were sailing without the motor. It was clear but cool, but we had a really great sail into the anchorage at the bottom of the Alligator River. Part of the allure for driving down the ditch is that it passes through a lot of uninhabited areas. Probably the first 260 miles are relatively isolated and devoid of human interactions. The Alligator-Pungo canal is one of these areas. The man made canal connects the Alligator River to the Pungo River, and with the exception of a kink in the middle is pretty straight. It passes through swamp lands, mainly, but also there are some areas with trees and shrubs. We had been seeing lots of birds, kingfishers, osprey, buzzards and several bald eagles. It’s nice to know that regulating DDT has had a beneficial effect on the bald eagle population. The first couple of times we came south we didn’t see any bald eagles at all, now they are almost commonplace. We were motoring along, about one third of the way through the canal. I was down below fixing lasagna for dinner, and Holly was at the helm. She called to me to come up, said there were cows in the water. I came on deck and sure enough in front of us about 200 feet were 3 animals. They were too small to be cows, and I thought maybe they were wild pigs. We slowed the boat to nearly stopped so as not to frighten them, and as we drifted slowly towards them it became obvious that they were bears. A mother and two cubs. One cub was holding onto to mum, obviously not a good swimmer! As they noticed us the mother sped up a little and the last cub lagged behind. The mother got to shore scrambled onto the bank and immediately turned towards us and reared up, as if to guard the other swimmer. The cub with the mother sprang six feet up into a tree and sat watching us. All three made it safely and as the lagging cub reached land, the mother turned away and made into the woods. We had never seen bears in the wild before and it was a great thing to see. We had planned on stopping in Belhaven, but made really good time and reached up into Bath Creek where we anchored just inside the entrance. Our dear friend, Jo Ruth who lives in Greenville, NC had fallen and injured her left ankle and right knee, so we thought a short visit would be in order, just to cheer her up. So we sailed up the Pamlico River to Washington, which is only 20 miles from Greenville by car. Just outside of town there is a railway trestle bridge which usually remains open for boat traffic, but it was closed. Not knowing if it was closed for a train or broken I called the bridge tender on channel 13, the normal bridge frequency. No answer. I tried several times with no response, so I called the city docks, again no answer. I began to think that our radio was not working so I put out a call to anyone and some nice person responded. So at least the radio was working. Finally the city docks responded and they had called the bridge tender by phone and there was a train due in 20 minutes. No problem we would just go around in circles for a while until they opened it again, but at least someone knew we were there. This was the time when the lower clouds decided to let loose with their water. It poured and poured with rain, we were literally soaked and looked like drowned rats. Unfortunately it didn’t let up any. I never did hear how much rain actually fell, but I would guess it to be 3-4 inches over a few hours time. Ditches and roads were swamped and driving was treacherous. The rain lasted for the rest of the day and didn’t stop until the early hours of the morning, though it did let up somewhat after midnight. It was cold and wet and we knew we were too far north. Our visit with Jo Ruth went well, she is recuperating and able to get around somewhat, although she can’t drive yet. Wednesday saw us underway bright and early again, this time headed for the Neuse River. We had a good sail most of the day until we got into the Neuse proper when the winds went around to the nose and we had to motor again. We were making pretty good time, so headed up the river towards Oriental area to find a good anchorage. The forecast was for clearing skies and cooler, but sunny weather in the afternoon, but with strong north-west to north winds over night, so we had to pick our spot carefully. We found a really nice cove off of South Creek, opposite to Oriental, where we could pull way up and be protected from most any direction. Although the winds did pick up overnight we were very comfortable. Our depth sounder has been playing up, switching itself on and off as it pleases, usually when we are around some shoal water. I took the thing out and cleaned the electrical connections etc, and it seemed to help, but it is still unreliable. I had wanted to open the thing up and see if there are any loose wires, but can’t figure out how it opens. There are no screws or any such fasteners to loosen. Oh well, I re-cleaned the connectors and hopefully it will last us for a while. Holly ordered up a new unit, but it won’t be ready to ship for a week or so. The unit is 12 years old, ancient in the realm of electronics, and no longer sold or stocked. Luckily the repair facility said they could refurbish one for us. Now we have to wait until they have done it before deciding where we will be close to for them to ship it to us. Hopefully it will fix the problem, because we are getting into the portion of the ICW that is pretty shoal. Anything just outside the channel is around 1 foot deep so we don’t want to make any mistakes and run aground. We stopped in Bo’fort NC for overnight but didn’t go ashore. We are both still a little under the weather, Holly more so than me. I’m sure it will go away eventually but in the interim it sucks. Today, Friday we are motoring down Bogue Sound headed for Camp Lejeune and the anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay. It’s a long ways, around 45 miles and the wind keeps veering around to ensure it remains on the nose. Coupled with a foul current and we are just having fun. At least the sun is shining, though the temps are still down around high 60’s, we need another 15-20 degrees to feel comfortable. That’s all for now, it’s time to make some soup, yes soup, something hot to keep the chills away. We had six boats in the anchorage at Mile hammock, not many considering the thirty four that were there last year! We had considered going off shore form Bo’Fort to Wrightsville Beach, but the forecast was for 25-30 knot winds and 6-8 foot seas, not very enjoyable, so in keeping with our mantra of ‘pleasure boating’ we decided to motor sail down the ditch. We have picked up more boaters heading south and the boat ballet around the numerous bridges is getting old. Oh well, at least we are still ahead of the Annapolis boat show power boats, they are a royal pain! Well it’s getting late and we are nearly to Carolina Beach where we will anchor for the night. Next comes the Cape Fear River and then on to Calabash at the border of South Carolina. As you can see w have made a lot of southing, more later, we have been out of internet access….. We’re still in shorts…… S/V Hampshire Rose ~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~ _/)~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~

SVHampshireRose

Test of new settings

 

SVHampshireRose

I don’t know why but I really like the state of South Carolina. Is it the foliage? The way the ICW meanders through with everything from North Myrtle and Barefoot Landing to the unspoiled beauty of the Waccamaw River? The great seafood and Big Tuna in Georgetown? The fact that we know so many great people who call it home? Who knows, but I like it. We entered South Carolina yesterday by passing into the anchorage at Calabash which sits on the border. Calabash proper is actually in North Carolina and is famous for its fried seafood. We took the dink in there last spring and had a hell of a time trying to find somewhere to tie up! It was between lunch & dinner so we had a cocktail in one of the local restaurants and really enjoyed it. Not so this fall, with it being chilly we just want to get south. After the developed areas around Barefoot Landing and North Myrtle Beach it was nice to get to the Socastee Bridge and on into the Waccamaw River. We dropped the hook in Cow House Creek and it was lovely. Turtles drifted past on logs and there was only one other boat in sight. Well, we have meandered into Georgetown, SC and finally have internet so will post now. All the Best! Holly & Rob S/V Hampshire Rose ~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~ _/)~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~~~_/)~~_/)~~~

Well, we finally got out of Great Bridge on October 5th. Really nice folks there but not where we wanted to spend 3-4 days! We cruised past Coinjock while thinking of their prime rib but we were fully provisioned and dropped the hook near the entrance to the Albermarle Sound. Stayed the following night just outside the Alligator - Pungo Canal. The following morning as we were motoring through the canal I (Holly) saw something in the water. We were too far north for it to be gators and it was too big to be pigs. Where is the camera when you need it? It was a mother bear and two cubs swimming across the canal! One cub was on the mothers back while the other swam behind. I had to slow the boat down to make sure I did not hit them. Rob & I were amazed to say the least. When the mother hit the shore she swung around on her haunches and stared at us while the cub that had been on her back scampered up a tree. She sat back like that until the second cub was safely ashore. It was an amazing sight. We went right past Bellhaven on up the Pamlico River to Bath on our way to "Little" Washington, NC to see my friend Jo Ruth. She had fallen and sprained her left ankle while shattering her right kneecap! Given that set of circumstances we knew we had to go visit. We did and she was much better than we had expected! After a stop at Lukens on the South River off of the Neuse we arrived in Beaufort, NC this afternoon. Off to Mile Hammock in the morning! Holly

Still here. Well the universal joint was the next to go. Our friend Mike came to AYB and took me (Holly) to get his Susuki to take the part. What happened???? Well if you heard about the disabled vehicle in the downtown tunnel this morning, that would have been me! The tunnel people have this towing thing down pat! :-) Horizon Marine, Mike & Dave, fixed it pronto and now we hope to leave in the morning. If we do get out of here we will be without internet for a few days. Thanks for the good thoughts everyone! Holly & Rob

Out of Great Bridge

**OK, so this is a copy of the email. After all, this is only a test! A little poetic license with the photo too! Current position: Atlantic Yacht Basin, Great Bridge, VA Hello all, Often, beginning is the hardest part of a task. For us casting off the dock lines and actually leaving is one such difficult task. After several weeks of beautiful, fall weather, moderate temps, cooling slightly at night, clear blue skies, mild winds and sunny days, we decided to leave Bay Point Marina on Saturday, Sep 29th. Of course Saturday dawned cold, overcast and rainy! So we waited around a while until we thought the weather was clearing (it wasn’t) and finally cast off the dock lines around 1245. The wind, what little there was, kept the anemometer pointed to the bow of the boat, even when we turned, the wind turned with us. But we motored on and finally made Hospital Point, in downtown Portsmouth, where we dropped the anchor for the night, fixed a nice dinner and went to bed early. Sunday we departed and made for the Elizabeth River bridges, but we were quite lucky and able to time things to arrive just before the scheduled openings. It seemed funny not to stop at Great Bridge, which was empty of moored boats, but we wanted to move on past all the bridges into the North River. There’s a small anchorage just before Pungo Ferry, where we have stopped before and we’re planning on spending the night there. In the course of the travels I had been keeping an eye on the engine and bilges, just in case anything had shaken loose after 4 months of non-use sitting in a marina. We had replaced our transmission and noticed a strong vibration, but put it down to hard growth on the propeller and shaft. A diver cleaned that up before we left, but we thought there may still be a small vibration that hadn’t been there before. I looked down into our bilges and saw a brown, frothy mixture coming out of the front seal on our V drive. Now, the V drive is a device, shaped like a sidewise V that effectively turns the prop shaft through 150 degrees. It also reduces the output with a 2:1 ratio gearing. Now gears, as we know, require oil to keep things running smoothly, not Latte! The housing has a tube which moves raw water from outside the boat, through the V drive where cools the oil as it is thrown into the gears. Ours had begun leaking. Not being in a spot to stop, the ditch can really be just a cut ditch, I filled it full of real oil, and we slowed down and moved slowly on. Once we had the anchor down I cleaned out the old frothy oil and filled it with new. After running for several minutes the oil again took on that latte attitude of salt water in oil, not good. Being only 10 miles from Great Bridge we made the decision to make our way back to Atlantic Yacht Basin to moor so I could trouble shoot and fix the problem. It took us several hours to get back because we were running a low rpm. I was continuously topping off the oil, hoping not to burn out the gears. I never did find where the leak was, but it must have been in the pipe passing through the top of the V drive. The company had a new one in stock and we ordered it shipped overnight to us. The new part is received and installed, and we are waiting for our friend to come and check the vibration issue, before we set out again for warmer climes. Both Holly and I have been suffering with the ‘crud’, so called by one of the locals. Low grade fever, sinus congestion, sore/aching bodies, coughs. Not at all nice and we have been trying to shake it. I have had it for nearly 2 weeks, and it is just now easing up. A propitious start to our newest adventure. Hopefully we will get it behind us, last year we were both sick with similar symptoms whilst in St Augustine, FL. * days without leaving the boat. Take care, Rob and Holly

Out of Norfolk... Barely!

Well it started out well enough. We left Bay Point Marina in Norfok around 12:45 on Saturday September 29th. Dropped the hook at Hospital Point - Mile Marker 0 of the ICW and listened to the rain fall. The following morning we headed towards Pungo Ferry and a friend, Randy, passed us on Mariah! As we left him behind at the Great Bridge locks Rob noticed a problem with the v-drive on the engine. We went on to Pungo but decided that the smart thing to do was to return to Atlantic Yacht Basin the following morning. Here we are! The parts have been ordered and will arrive on Wednesday the 3rd. Just a minor setback and better here than farther away! Time for crabcakes! Holly