It turns out there is another boat like mine here in Palatka and the owner introduced me to a neighbor of his who can watch Spark for a few months. I may try to move there today and start stripping sails and canvas because she will be under the trees…
I will be headed to the boat for a couple of days and will be without a connection. Stay tuned.
They changed our forecast where the lower 20’s will continue into Monday but all is well because I am in a fancy motorhome cover tent that will capture the heat from the wall unit.
Maybe some people are not supposed to be alone. As soon as I wake up in the morning I start humming something or other. It might not even be a song. I have never really ever been a big music person like some of you. I had a couple of…
My enclosures are 3-sided. Port, starboard and front. Not much help when the wind is behind you but this was a shorter day. I used four of those heat packets. One in each shoe and one in each glove. Palatka looked really good on arrival and it was great to…
It was so cold pouring in that jug of fuel this morning. An Albin 28 had come in just after dark and they waved on the way out the creek. The name of the boat was “Slow Motion” and I was to see them twice more with both of us…
I spent the night on shore at Ashton Whipple’s house. Some of you in Oriental know and love Ashton. He didn’t get serious about art until he was 60 years old but his work is beautiful and I got to hear the stories behind some of the paintings. His daughter…
The boat has done well. The engine did quit in Port Royal Sound as it did going to Manteo but both were after a couple of hours of pretty violent rocking and rolling. I had plenty of fuel both times but it is possible the pickup tube sucked some…
The day cleaned up very well and I rowed during the slack tide and returned at sunset riding the flood tide back to the boat. It cost $10 but I filled a water jug and have until noon tomorrow to fill more jugs. After a nice talk with my uncle…
I just moved to the big anchorage south of the Bridge of Lions. The wi-fi is a real challenge because the wind has me swinging wildly. The next 4 or 5 nights are freezing so I have to figure out how to get to shore and buy firewood. St. Augustine…
This is why people go to Florida for the winter because this is where winter lives. I will fill in the last few days when I am plugged in somewhere. I am anchored far from the marina but might attempt the row at slack tide for a can of fuel…
I can group a couple of days in this post. The weather was cold of course and the main worry was crossing all the Georgia sounds because some of the routes take you partially out the inlets. Some went well while others were worthy of holding your breath wondering if…
A couple of boats pulled into the anchorage last night. One of the boats was hauled out at Sailcraft when I left Oriental a month ago. I used to see this couple at the Silos sometimes. Her name was Donna. They left early this morning and the second boat not…
I just had turkey dinner with Jerome and a homeless guy down at the park. We used the big white coffee filters for plates. How many of you had avocado with your meal? The one guy camps in a tent and of course Jerome camps on a Catalina 22 with…
I can’t believe how lucky I am to have such good friends and family. I am so very grateful. I hope everyone has the best of holidays and I hope not to be such a pain. Soon.
I had joked that I was going to go until I broke down or the boat broke down. I think it is appropriate that we both came to a halt on the same day. My back has been getting worse the last few days and the motor hardly turned over…
Some time after noon I motored up Turner Creek to dinghy in for fuel and food. My back was pretty bad so I was glad the store was a short walk. Plans of staying the night were abandoned and I left at 2 attempting to get through the bridge just…
About three hours into the day I turned upwind where the Intracoastal crosses Port Royal Sound. The waves were pretty big and there was some pounding going on with the bowsprit going underwater every few waves. With just a couple of miles to go the engine just quit. All the…
The current was ripping when I got up this morning and getting the anchor loose caused the first bit of my back problems. I had to try and power over it and then get some chain up before the current loaded it up. It took about 3 hours to get…
I should have waited for this day to pass. It never let up for 7 hours and 46 miles. Everything got wet. When I finally got anchored I had the stove roaring and everything clipped to the overhead handrails where the cabin is the warmest.