A Slow Boat to .........

Well, we're certainly not breaking any speed records. Today is day #13 of the trip and we've covered about 130 miles.

Weather has been a big deal. We laid over in Morehead City due to heavy rains and severe thunderstorms. While there some "not too bright" guy put his wallet in the drink while getting onto the boat. Carol spent hours fixing that mess. A week and a half without credit cards was a real learning experience. And, try getting a new license without a wallet-full of identification. A US passport doesn't cut much slack with the NC DMV.

Next we laid over in Swansboro. Very cold, high winds; the weathermen were talking about polar/arctic cold fronts. We had several nights below freezing. The Marines at Camp Lejuene were firing live ordnance which shut the ICW down for most of four days. Plus, I was into high avoidance about the next stretch of the ICW which has three swing bridges and one bascule bridge.

Anyway we got to Wrightsville, NC, about 100 trip miles, at which point we had our first boat problem: the heat pump stopped pumping heat due to a failed compressor. For two days and nights we lived in the sleeping bags and were mostly frozen. Being lucky is good: the NC distributor for Cruisair, who sold us this unit through a boat-yard in Oriental, NC, is in Wilmington, NC, about 15 miles away. I called a little after 7am on Monday morning and by 10am someone was on the boat fixing the unit. We now have heat.

We also had our first navigational mishap: I ran the boat aground. However, there were extenuating circumstances: it was the dead of night in a force 9 gale; there was no visibility due to blowing snow and sleet. We were being chased by Somali pirates in a recently captured Saudi oil tanker. I headed for shallow water knowing that the pirates in a deep draft tanker couldn't follow us there and the boat hit bottom. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We're now in Southport, NC, next door to Leland, NC; Stan and Connie are in Japan. Go figure!

It's been strange not having a car. The size of our world, outside the boat, is however far we can walk or take a taxi. The good news with this is that there's always seafood and beer in walking distance.

Charleston, SC is about four travel days away; we might make it by 12/01/08, or not.