I sure haven’t been around the internet lately. Sometimes I can sit in a car and answer some emails but most of the time has gone to the boat. The shaft had to be replaced along with the cutlass bearing. A new waterline is painted and all the bottom has…
There are a few weeks work and a house-sit job waiting back in Oriental. The week in Savannah was during some great weather. This was my first time going into the downtown after dark and I was very impressed. The buildings were beautiful and there is enough outdoor dining to…
Jeff, Marilyn and I went floating down the river in a Jon boat powered by a 20hp motor. We stopped on the way upstream to swim in the docile waters of one of the lazy rapids. On the way back we hit a rock in the same previously lazy area…
Driving to Lugoff,SC to visit a blacksmith/farrier friend that has been in Colorado for the past year. Nights have turned cool so camping out is the plan.
I had some difficulties moving this site to a new server but things seem to be back to normal. I am going to update the pictures of “Spark” on the for sale page. She has been hauled to do the bottom and is in the storage lot owned by Triton…
We had to move out of the Schoolhouse Condos for a week so a quick trip to Pensacola was decided on. Pictures to follow. The dinghy needs to rejoin the boat but first it has to fit on a Toyota Corolla for the drive back to Oriental.
People are running from the heat and that is providing empty houses with a thing they call air conditioning. The nights of last week were not so bad because of a breeze that lasted almost all night and the lows were maybe 75. One day we had one of those…
Trying to plan a little trip up to Watauga Lake for a few days of chillin. We did a install today of a NuTeak flybridge up in Little Washington. The process is hard but the results are very rewarding. It really dressed up the boat. All of a sudden we…
I am back in Oriental and had coffee at the Bean this morning after a night anchored in about three feet of water. The boat has been great with just the one real breakdown and a minor hiccup here and there. It’s hard to go boating without something breaking so…
I am anchored here in Swansboro with an internet connection that is helping me monitor a storm cell headed this way and packing wind. I went for a swim yesterday in Wrightsville Beach and saw that the hull was covered in heavy barnacles. This morning early I pulled “Spark” onto…
What a difference. Today was in the high 80’s and I hardly broke a sweat. The boat did 70 miles of travel and that was including opening 4 bridges. I just put the anchor down in the little harbor here in Southport and thought I was next to a rock…
There is a reason that people do this certain times of the year. I was late to leave when I turned south in early December and this is not a good time again with heat index about 114 degrees. Georgetown has been great to layover for a day. I was…
I couldn’t time the tide right yesterday and did a lot of upstream rowing. It took me four hours to wash a boat for Elfin at Complete Marine Services. When I finished we all sat around and talked until almost 10pm. It’s a good group of people. My part was…
The new autopilot is old. It hasn’t been of much use yet because it goes into a crazy panic trying to be perfect. This morning I discovered a sequence of button pushing that allows you to enter how many turns from stop to stop and even some dampening control. I…
My day started with a shower on shore and then a five mile hike to Walmart in an attempt to undo the shower. It’s about 90 degrees here. Mission accomplished. I decided to track down the transmission cooler now that I was so refreshed. Ron asked Alan and Alan said…
The last 3 days have been good with only Jekyll Island Sound causing any trouble. I still had southeast winds and the ocean waves kept trying to slap the dinghy off the davits. Today I woke up to northwest winds that stayed light while I crossed St. Catherine Sound and…
The first day underway I only made 39 miles because I tried to sail for 2 or 3 hours but the winds were light. By 4 o’clock I was anchored in Julington Creek and rowed in to the Whole Foods store for a few things. I met a man in…
These last couple of days have allowed me to address some boat issues. Not the big boat but the dinghy. It’s a Zodiac and would a great outboard powered ride but it doesn’t have very good oarlocks and one was lost when I bought it. The one I found as…
We were at the Milltop in St. Augustine and heard Will Pearsall play on a Monday night in front of us and a couple other tables. What a treat! Now it looks like he will play here in Palatka at this weekend’s Blue Crab Festival so I might have to…