April 2014 Endcap

Dates: Apr 1-30, 2014

Elizabeth City, NC – Dismal Swamp – Portsmouth – North Atlantic – Nyack, NJ – Castleton on the Hudson

Sailing: 16 hr

Motoring: 103 1/2 hrs (includes motor-sailing)

Mileage: 552 Nm (Nautical Miles)

Budget Amount:      $1590.00 US (All budgeting is in US funds)

Charts/Books:          $      0.00     

Boat Parts:               $     42.00     

Marinas:                   $    40.00

Diesel:                      $  120.00

Beer:                        $    17.00

Grocery:                   $  197.00

Entertainment:         $   285.00

Fees/Services:          $    69.00     (pump-outs, laundry, wifi, taxis, etc...)

Clothing/Shopping   $   121.00

Misc:                        $    130.00     (Propane, hobbies, etc...)

Total:                      $1021.00

Debit/Credit:           $  569.00

Another under budget month, this one way under. There are many factors affecting the reduced cost of living, but I think the biggest reason is the cheap ass that I live with. A couple of successful under-budget months has fuelled her frugal nature, and made spending money needlessly, an evil sin. Just kidding, Sweetheart. We are trying to use up all the stores that we bought to sustain us in the islands, we are almost at the end of the big beer shopping spree we did in Florida, and we have been sitting around with our thumbs up our butts, and nowhere to spend the dough. Sprinkle on a dose of we are running out of cash on hand, and the poor performance of our dollar, and you get the frugal moving over to cheap.

We did spend a little more on restaurants, but we were under budget, so we were a little frivolous while we were out wandering. We also paid for 8 days on a mooring ball at Castleton Boat Club, and for use of their mast crane. We would have stayed longer on their moorings, but they raised the price to $25 per night, and there is no way I am paying that if I don’t have to.

For the 9 month trip, we budgeted $1590 per month, and we ended up being $5000 over budget. Much of that stems from work to the boat that never got finished before we left, but most of it was for things we didn’t yet have, and either needed or wanted to make the trip more enjoyable. Things like foul weather gear, Go Pro underwater camera, and a sailing kit for our dinghy. I think it is safe to say that the next trip will cost a little less, barring any unforeseen circumstances, like, oh, an engine….

So the plan for the month of Apr, was to get to Castleton on the Hudson, take down the mast, and be ready when the Erie canal opens on May 1^st. We succeeded, but not without a little rough weather. And, the canal is delayed until May 3^rd. Of course, if the rains they are calling for in the next few days have their way, it could be a longer wait. But we watch, and pray.

We have determined that we need to slow down a little, but we also know that it’s not in our nature. As it is, we have been sitting still for 11 days, no where to go, and little to do. A bit too slow I’d say. We have also figured out that we like to be able to get off the boat more often. Having somewhere to land the dinghy, or even dock Vita is nice, but we are also too cheap to pay for a marina, so that becomes and issue. Next trip we’ll try and keep that in mind, and find places to go that cater to that ideal.

This will be our last month end, at least for some time. Next month finds us moving from the boat to a small camper on our building lot in Marmora. We were going to pack Vita up for the summer, but I think we will keep her ready to go. A little sailing vacation once in awhile might be a welcome break from building the house. Unfortunately she is not likely to get the work done on her that she requires, at least until she is out of the water. There are a couple of leaks that need to be addressed, some vents that never got installed, raise the waterline once again, finish the woodwork, work on the black water tank and fittings, and a few other little things that will have to wait until lift-out.

Now back to your regular blogging........

Hind-Sight

For those of you that are reading the blog for the travel part, you might want to skip this post. I promised myself that I would do a quick review of the systems we installed/or didn't install on the boat, and whether or not it was a good idea. For those who'll keep reading, please keep in mind that what works or doesn't work for us, may or may not work for you, we can only offer our own opinion, and/or perhaps the opinions of a few fellow travelers. Where to start......

The Fridge

If only because this is my crowning achievement. We heard more complaints about fridges from our fellow cruisers than the weather. Can't freeze, uses to much power, won't keep the beer cold, etc, etc... Our fridge was a dream. http://svvita.blogspot.com/2012/10/building-proper-marine-refrigerator-and.html It performed better than we could have expected, made ice in the hot Bahamas sun, and used so little power that our solar panels had no trouble keeping up. If you are going cruising, willing to take on a rather big project, and like us, you like your beer chilled, then this is definitely worth the hassle. I think the key, other than the 4 1/2" of insulation, is the heavy integrated lids with the double seal. However, keeping the box small, and using a refer unit that draws very little power definitely makes it a total win-win package.

Stove

We bought the cheapest 2 burner stove, with oven, that we could. You can make the trip on a single burner if you want, some do, and others don't have an oven, but for the $2k that it cost to install the stove and propane system, we feel it was worth it. Serena baked all the time. We always ate well, perhaps too well, and the stove performed flawlessly through the whole trip. We expect we will get many more years of service out of the unit.

Interior Redesign

Most of this worked well for us. The table did not, if only because we ended up turning the settee along the table into a permanent double bed. Lifting the galley counter 4" saved our backs from even worse torment, and the added built in storage was a dream. The more storage you build into the boat, the happier you'll be. Especially if its a small boat. It is absolutely amazing how much crap we can cram into poor little Vita. I think perhaps we are not the only ones who have gotten a little pudgier around the middle. The couch offered us comfortable seating, which worked out exactly as planned. It made a great sea berth with the lee cloth, and a comfortable place to spend our evenings.

Solar Panels

Wow, another triumph. I didn't do much, mount them, and install the panel, but they are a incredible. They did the bulk of our charging, and if we were careful, they would handle all of our charging needs. We went a week and a half with no alternator, and had no problem keeping the batteries topped up. Now, our boat is a model of efficiency when it comes to power usage, so that helped, but still, I reiterate what others have been saying for a long time, solar is the way to go. I can think of only two people we met that were happy with their wind generators, even though the rest of the anchorage wasn't. Hour for hour, you will get more power out of a good solar setup than any other system. And its quiet....

Hella Fans

We have three of the expensive ones, "hella turbo". Use next to no power. They were a godsend. We ran them all the time in when it was warm. We only wish we had a couple more.

Shower

Serena was pretty adamant when we left that she wanted a shower in the head. We took along all the pieces we needed to build the shower. We never did install it. Like most small boat cruisers, we shower in the cockpit. The add-a-room gives us all the privacy we need, our little buddy heater heats it up if its cold, and we never have to worry about too much moisture down below.

Water

We opted for manual fresh water only. A hand pump in the head, and a foot pump in the galley. The foot pump was awesome, the hand pump, not so much. In a rolly boat you cannot afford a hand for the pump. Next upgrade will see a second foot pump in the head. We went without hot water, as it tends to be very inefficient, unless you have a system that heats it from the engine exhaust. So we heat all of our water on the stove. It can be a pain sometimes, but we don't seem to mind it. Besides, what else you going to do with the time. We do have pressure water though, for outside water only. We use it for rinsing all our dishes before we wash them, and for cleaning our garbage before we store it. It has been wonderful, and we highly recommend it to others headed out. If you'll have a watermaker, its less important. Water was plentiful all through the states, but in the Bahamas, free water was difficult to come by. We carried about 90 gallons of water, and that lasted us easily 6 weeks with conservation.

Lavac Head

No complaints. Which is the way a head should be. We have had several issues with the black water tank though. Also the lack of a good way to empty the tank while in the Bahamas was an issue. We used a manual pump that we connected to the deck fitting. It was a nasty process, but it worked. One of the future upgrades will be a through hull for those offshore runs, and a way to pump out the tank from inside the boat. Most cruisers don't talk about their head, and with good reason. The laws have gotten so strict that most boats would probably have something illegal in their setup. But for those who travel outside their home port, some versatility is important. Have the tank, have a way to empty the tank, have a way to bypass the tank. Nuff said. Have a lock out on it to be as legal as possible, and please for the environments sake, be responsible.

Anchor Gear

It took awhile to gain confidence in our anchor gear. It never gave us reason to doubt it, but hanging a 5 ton boat by a 33lb hunk of steel takes a while to get comfortable with. The windless was awesome. We could not have done it without the mechanical advantage of the Lofrans. Our gear is not particularly heavy, but with our back problems, lifting the anchor too often would have been a real issue for us. The Rochna is a great anchor. It never failed to reset instantly with a wind change, and had a tendency to bury itself completely in a strong wind or current. All chain, 130', we wish we had 200', but it worked out ok. The worst we saw was 60 knots with a 3 knot current, and we never budged an inch. The rework of the bow with the chain locker and fibreglass work, performed exactly as expected, and turned out to be stronger than I thought. I can't say enough good things about the whole setup, we are just so happy with it. The biggest thing we figured out along the way was to set the anchor hard. There is not enough power in our engine to do any damage to the system, so we let her have it. When the snubber stretches to its limits, and starts to sing from the strain, I sleep a lot better.

Garhauer Rigid Boom Vang

The one thing that every person who has done it, agreed on, was to get a Garhauer. For the $375 it cost, it didn't seem worth it, to not do it. Now we add our own voice to the group, and it is still an unanimous vote. For handling the mainsail, I am sure there can be no better piece of equipment. If you have never seen one in action, I won't be able to convince you of its benefits, but the first time you use it on a cruising boat, you will never be without one. Such a simple piece of gear, that honestly we didn't use that much because we didn't sail all that often, but worthy of its weight on the boat.

New Sails

Arguably, we didn't sail as much as we hoped on this trip. And, most of the time we had a sail up, we were running with just the yankee and the engine on. However, the battenless main worked as flawlessly as we had hoped. It was such an easy sail to handle and setup. I ended up sausage rolling on the boom, instead of flaking it, because it just worked so much better. The lazy jacks that we intended to install, never got installed, because they were never needed. The staysail on the other hand, only left the bag about 10 times the whole trip. It was a pain to get ready, and most of the time it added little value. We left it bagged on the stay the whole time, and it always got in the way. I think we are going to put it on a furler before our next big trip. It'll get used more often if its easy to deploy, and it won't get in the way so much. The DRS is a beautiful sail, but it was never needed on the boat. If we were going to do long offshore trips, I would keep it, but for inshore work, it was more of a toy than anything else. I think I flew it 3 times, and they were all just for fun.

Life Line

Our dinghy, named Life Line. Like all dinghies it seems, is a compromise between a lot of different things. We have a 8' Walker Bay with a suzuki 2.5 hp four stroke engine, a hypalon inflatable collar, and a sail kit. She rows nicely, and she is a blast to sail, but she is slow, and wet. Many times I wished for a go fast dinghy so that we could explore further and faster, but they are a bitch to row, use a lot of fuel, and can't be sailed. We used 4 gallons of gas in out little motor during the entire 9 month trip. We know people with nice dinghies that burn that in a day. So the answer? I don't have one. I guess make a choice and live with it. We will stick with Life Line for now, but may one day get a little inflatable with a larger motor, who knows. We may go ahead and do it, and then regret our decision later when our engine quits 4 miles from home.

Davits

I really wasn't sure about having davits on such a small boat. But Serena was adamant. She did not want the dinghy on the foredeck blocking our view, and towing it was not an option. So I went ahead and took the $1400.00 plunge, and installed them. And man, I am so glad that I did. The boat looks quite shippy with Life Line slung from the back, and it puts the dinghy out of sight, out of mind. It took most of the trip to figure out how to secure the dinghy in a way that I was happy with, but now it doesn't move at all under way. Also, because of the way the dinghy is lifted so high out of the water, I have been confident in leaving it on the davits even while offshore, a thing that I was dead set against before we left. I will admit that it was a pretty expensive extravagance on such a small boat, and we definitely could have made the trip without them, but we are happy we didn't.

Electronics

Laptop - We bought a small netbook before we left. The theory being that it used less power, had less moving parts, and was small for a small boat. It has worked good, but a little more power would be nice for editing video and a little bigger screen wouldn't hurt. I would have one again, but I may bring along a second laptop as backup, and to do things that little one had a rough time with. Also with the laptop is an external hard drive. Backup everything, because in the wet environment of the boat, you never know when its going to give up the ghost.

Chart Plotter - Standard Horizon 5" display. Mounted at the wheel, we loved this thing. It was far from perfect, but when it died there the one day I missed it dearly. This was no substitute for paper charts, but it aided them marvelously. We also had two backup handheld GPSs, which came in very handy, and a full set of free charts on the netbook. I purchased Polarview on the way down and used that to download all the Active Captain data so that we could use it offline. For those of you uninitiated, Active Captain is the cruising guide for cruisers, by cruisers. Check it out, you'll see what I mean.

Knot log and depth sounder - Depth sounder, good, knot log, waste of $350.00. On a cruising boat with GPS, the knot log is not all that useful. Fun to watch, when its working, but definitely not a requirement. The depth sounder though is awesome. We even bought a handheld depth sounder for using in the dinghy, and it was a great piece of kit too. We have friends with no depth sounder, and a 6 foot draft, so its possible to go without, but I don't think even they would recommend the ICW under those circumstances.

VHF Radio - It didn't work out the way we hoped. With the engine running we can't hear the radio below, so we end up using the handheld in the cockpit. I think the answer might be to insulate the engine compartment. Serena and I have been considering AIS as well, but it wasn't really all that hard to live without on this trip. We only come close to being run down 3 times, and they all worked out okay!

Xantrex Battery Monitor - Love this little expensive guy. Monitor the batteries. That's all it does, but it provides us with 24 hr tireless updates to what is going on in our electrical system. We spend more time looking at this than the sunsets.

Digital camera and GoPro - Wow, we took a lot of pictures, and a lot of video. If we never make another trip outside of our home town, we have these memories that will last forever. Outside of the Bahamas any camera that takes good pictures wil do. Ours was less than $200. But in the Bahamas, underwater is where it is at. That's where the GoPro comes in. If you want to be the envy of the other boats in the anchorage, bring a GoPro, and video tape your friends playing underwater with the sharks.

HF Radio - All we have is a receiver. It allows us listen to Chris Parker for weather in the Bahamas. We are not really the chatty type, so if our friends are outside of VHF range, we'll talk to them later.

TV and Antenna - We might not have survived the trip without it. There were days that we could do nothing else but sit in front of the TV, or lay down and nap. Whether because of broken body parts, or bad weather. In the Bahamas there was no TV, and when the mast is down we do without, but all the times in between, the TV saved our sanity, what little there was to save.

Wifi Extender - I built one of these before we left, and it has given us access to internet all over the place, right from the boat. There are lots of commercially available ones, and perhaps I will do a post on how to build one in the near future. We wouldn't be without this nice toy.

Ray - Is our autopilot. It is probably the cheapest wheel pilot you can buy. He can't keep a decent course for any real length of time, is prone to erratic behavior occasionally, and can't drive at all when the weather is rough, but, we wouldn't be without him. The number of tireless hours that he took the wheel, under close supervision of course, made the trip possible. I know lots of people who drive the whole way with no autopilot, but that is not us. And to think, Serena almost didn't let me get him.

That was it. We don't have much in the way of electronics, but we didn't seem to want for anything. We drove in thick fog without a radar, and survived. Although in hind site maybe it would have been smarter to sit still. An anemometer would have been nice, but we didn't seem to notice we didn't have one. Like a friend once said, you simply must have what you must have.

And this is starting to get overwhelming. I think of the myriad of little things that made our life easier, or more fun on this trip, and covering it would keep me typing all day long. But I reviewed most of the major systems. If you where looking for more, or want some intricate details of any of the systems on the boat, please feel free to message me. And, if you read through this thinking that there might be something interesting for the non-boater; I warned you at the beginning.

Vita back to one six.

Sittin' in the Hudson River

Watchin' the time roll away;
Sittin' in the morning sun;
And we'll be sittin' when the evening comes......

Yep, that's what we are doing, sittin'. Oh, and we are watching the ships roll in, and we're watchin' them roll away again.

All ready to transit the Erie Canal for Home, and no where to go. We had wanted to get to Waterford to wait, and it turns out we can't even do that. Apparently they won't let us go through the Federal lock at Troy even to get to the Erie, because there is nowhere to go. The docks aren't in the water, at Waterford, and there are no marinas. So we hang back. We are paid up until Sunday on the mooring ball at Castleton on the Hudson, but then we will be on the hook next to the mooring field until they let us up the river. No use paying for a ball when there are no services attached to it. The good news is that we had word yesterday that the locks were opening on the 3rd of May, a little late, but better than three weeks delayed.

So where were we. That's right, exhausted from a long 66 hour passage in the pleasant North Atlantic. (Just like child berth, the memory of the pain goes away quickly, and you only remember the good stuff). We woke to a beautiful day in Nyack NJ. Again we were accused of bring the warm weather with us. Guilty as charged, please just throw money. Still not feeling up to our usual selves, we decided to take the day off and wander around, until we found out that the laundromat was open, and then the lure of fresh bedding drew us out. So after walking through the streets of the local artisan fair, where we picked up some Christmas presents, don't ask, we headed back to the boat to get our two big bags of dirty stuff.

We hadn't seen this many people in one place in a while. It was a little weird, but the day was beautiful, and the vendors not too too pushy.

Monday the weather deteriorated, but one of the club members took me to get our propane tank filled while Serena helped his wife with the bottom paint on their boat. We hung out at the club house most of the day using their wifi, having showers, and visiting with the locals. Nice relaxed day. The bad weather went to worse; the winds blew strong, up over 40 knots from the south, putting large, sharp, nasty, waves through the mooring field. We were trapped on the boat for two days while it rolled and bucked, and tried to make us ill. Then finally late on Wednesday we got a little reprieve, and were able to dinghy in to the club, have showers, use the internet, fill up our drinking water jugs, and just sit somewhere that wasn't moving for a change. We also said our good byes to our host, who had graciously allowed us to use his mooring ball, for free. We would have stayed longer, but we already felt like we were taking advantage of their generosity, so we packed up and headed out on Thursday morning, into freezing temperatures. But at least the winds were light, and the sun was shining.

The spring brings a different kind of beauty than you get in the fall. These little waterfalls showed up sporadically along the river. 

West Point, once again, always awe...

And trains, the Hudson river has lots of trains. Twin tracks on each side of the river I think, and they are the busiest I have ever seen.

The first day we traveled only 28 nautical miles up to Pollepel Island. We stopped here on our way down. A nice little anchorage tucked in behind the island. It was however, rather quiet without our friends from C'sta Time and Serenada. We noticed that there was scaffold set up all around the castle, so it must be a restoration project on the go. It is sad that all the extravagance of yesteryear tends to get destroyed by fire, on in this case by an explosion, and a fire. 

The following day was a long 50 nautical mile drive up the Hudson river. We pulled off the river and dropped the hook across from Catskill Creek just after sunset. There was some strong north winds being called for on Saturday, and we wanted to make sure we didn't have too far to go. Plus, Sunday was promising to be a great "mast taking down day", warm, with no winds. After 10 hrs in the cockpit though, the temperatures barely above freezing were starting to get us. I am still trying to figure out what the big rush was to get back here, oh, right, house....

Debris, man, is the Hudson full of debris. You can't take your eyes off the water. Logs, firewood, trees, garbage; anything you can think of, it floated by us. We even saw three car tires, one of which I made an evasive maneuver to avoid, just in case the car was still attached to it. You never know. We considered travelling Friday night, to get up to Castleton on the Hudson before the nasty north winds moved in, but with this much stuff in the water, it would be too dangerous.

Yes, we are early. Almost all the clubs on the Hudson are still shut down. This should be a sign.

More pretty streams. This one has a bunch of trees still waiting to be dislodged so that they can join their brethren in the river.

Serena took about 200 pictures of logs, and debris. 

Oh, did I mention trains.....

And tugs. Sometimes, lots of tugs.

This was our biggest tree. Roots and all, probably about 60 to 80 feet long. Serena had a hard time getting the whole thing into the frame to take the picture. Imagine plowing into this puppy at 20 knots. Not that Vita is ever going to see 20 knots, but if she were a power boat, this would be a very treacherous obstacle.

And barrels. Enough to make a nice dock.

And ships, the Hudson river has no shortage of these either.

Or tugs and ships. We had to get out of the channel for these two, plus two other tugs, one before and one after. There was a nasty current, and with the waves from these things, it was all I could do to hold Vita straight. We kind of crab walked up the edge of the channel trying to stay out of their way.

But we made it to Castleton on the Hudson. 21 nautical miles took 7 1/2 hours. Compare that to the day previous, and its very sobering. The Hudson river can be a real bear in the spring. The water is tidal, so you get flow in both directions, but the incoming flow has to fight the current, so it isn't as strong as the outgoing flow which is aided by the current. It amounts to a really slow ride at times.

The Boat club welcomed us, the people have been great, and we joined them in their first party of the year; a Mexican night. All you can eat for $12 a head, very reasonable, and really cheap beer. We came pretty close to closing the place, and we had an awesome time. 

Sunday, being Easter, was really slow at the club. The sun was shining, and the winds were light out of the south. A better day to be taking down a mast, there is not. Luckily for us, Vita's mast is so simple to take down, that I am pretty sure I could do it myself with the remote control they have here. Having Serena here just made the job all that much simpler. Any more than two and the job gets too complicated.

Still debris floating by, all the time.

Take off the sails, the lines, undo everything, put the mast cradle pieces onto the boat and secure them. Taking down the mast takes only a few minutes, but the work up to that point takes hours. And, Serena wouldn't even let me have a beer until the mast was down.

Almost ready.

Serena working hard. Controlling that button on the remote is hard work.

Up, up, up.....

Down, down, down.

Our only injury for the day. The button left an indent in Serena's thumb. I consoled her while she wept on my shoulder. Boat bites.

Then I got a chance to do some of the hard work. Reeling the winch back up. I didn't get an indent. The button on the motor control box is bigger.

Now Vita is a power boat once again.

We've now been sitting on the boat for two days. We haven't even gone to shore. After tying up the mast, and doing a pump out, it was getting late. We headed back to the mooring ball, made supper, and had a celebration of sorts, for a job well done. That meant of course that neither of us was in any mood to doing anything the following day. 

Yesterday we started working on some of our outstanding chores. I fixed the alternator, which hadn't been working since some time in the Ocean. Turns out the wire that powers the regulator was broken at the connector. A fault in the manufacturers wiring harness. Serena cleaned, and I cleaned, and we organized, and sorted, and on and on. There is no end on a boat. If you want the space to be livable, you are constantly trying to keep it that way.

So now we sit. There is no where to go. And we wait. We might go to the store today for ice cream. Maybe do laundry tomorrow. And of course there is still a long list of things that could use our attention on the boat, maybe we'll look at those for the next day. Life can be so rough sometimes.

See everybody soon.

Vita back to one six.

Small Craft Warning in Effect

Serena, honey, when they say small craft warning in effect, they are talking about us right? No dear, I think they mean canoes and kayaks, small fishing boats, stuff like that. (I hope!!)

Well, so much for the perfect weather window to move from Portsmouth to New York. It looked good on paper before we left, but it shut down rather abruptly, and left us with a pretty rough ride for about 35 hours. At one point we heard a Mayday on the radio, a man in a much larger ketch had rolled, dis-masted and was apparently taking on water. By the time I figured it out, the Coast Guard was on their way to pick him up. We were 7 miles off the New Jersey coast, and about ½ a mile away from the boat in distress. The good news is that the man and his cat were saved. The bad news is that NOAA was recommending that all small vessels seek shelter immediately. Definitely not a Christelle Day, and not really a Rob and Serena kind of day either. However, my buddy Larry would be in seventh heaven! Below is the link to the Coast Guard article. The man did contact them on the VHF, because I heard the conversation. Whether or not he called them on a cell phone, I don't know. Its good to see that they saved the boat though. 

http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-assists-man-cat-from-disabled-sailboat-off-toms-river-nj/2014/04/11/

Wow, its been so long. There wasn't really much going on, and then all of a sudden there was so much that I wasn't sure I would be able to get it into one blog entry.

We left off in Elizabeth City, NC. We love this place. The people here are so friendly. But its not just here, its all of North Carolina. They just seem to be so welcoming. Free docks, rides, and a conscious effort to improve the experience for transient boaters. It’s a hard place to leave. While we were at the visitors center in the Dismal Swamp, I asked the lady how long we were allowed to stay on the free dock. The one lady said there wasn't any official time limit, and the other lady said, “until your dead”. So apparently as long as there is one living person on the boat, you can stay. Now that's welcoming, wouldn't you say?

We stayed three days in Elizabeth City. Officially we’re only allowed to stay two days, but Gus said we could stay much longer. A sentiment echoed by the Mayor when I talked to him Friday night. This time of year the water front isn't that busy, so they weren't all that concerned. I like common sense rules, enforced only when it makes sense. Staying that extra day meant we got to go on the first Art Walk of the year. We had an absolute blast the last time we did the art walk in November, with our friends from, Anthyllide, Sea Angel, and Northstar. This time we were alone, but the locals embraced us all the more. It was great, free food, free beer and wine, good conversations, good people, and great art. It was somewhat lacking in the antique furniture this time, but we came across a bed and breakfast that we missed last time. They were showing the works of a couple of local artists, but they were beyond friendly, welcoming, and generally interested in us as Canadians and boaters, it was great. By the time we left there we had offers to use peoples docks, stay with people, and there were hugs all around. I felt like I was leaving after a family thanksgiving. I almost felt guilty for leaving too early.

Art Walk over, loaded with food and water, we said our goodbyes to Gus, (the local self appointed boater host), and headed out the next morning. 

It was a warm spring day up the river to the Dismal Swamp, and the locals were all out enjoying the sunshine.

We are starting to see a lot of Canadian Geese. Maybe they know something we don't?

Nature, always Awwhhh.

Even when man cuts a canal through it, it remains beautiful.

Our first lock of the season. We were only the third boat to arrive in Elizabeth City this year, the first Canadian. The first Canadian through the lock and the first Canadian at the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center. I wonder if we get some sort of prize for that, or just strange looks, of, why aren't you still in the Islands?

The locks only open 4 times per day, so if your early, you wait.

The Dismal Swamp Visitors center has bikes you can borrow to ride down the nice trail into town. It was a blast. 

We stopped at the lock during our ride, and the lockmaster showed us how the bridge worked as he locked through another sailor headed north. We enjoyed sundowners that evening with him on Vita. But this bridge was circa "old", with the backup still running under a small gas engine from like 1923. Really neat.

Vita at the Dismal Visitors dock. We love this almost as much as Elizabeth City, maybe more, its just so quiet, peaceful, and welcoming.

We took a little walk through the park while we were there. Nice area, but it was wet and raining. We did get a real kick out of the signs. This is a policy that we will strictly adhere to, hopefully. We are not big tick fans.

Tuesday morning I woke up, check the internet for news, with the free wifi, provided by the Visitors Center, see, welcoming. Anyway, I noticed that the weather man had changed his tune and there was a nice weather window opening up for us to get to New York. So we said our good byes to the wonderful ladies working at the center, untied Vita, and headed for Portsmouth. It was a nice quick trip up to the Portsmouth free dock. We got a pump out, and had plenty of time to get to the Commodore for dinner and a movie. Awesome.

How do you know you are in Norfolk Virginia, the skyline changes to this.

We love the Commodore. The food isn't particularly good, and the movie selection is so-so, but the experience makes it worth it. We watched Noah with Russel Crowe this time. Much better than Captain Phillips from our October experience.

The following day we topped up the diesel. Serena made up some food so we wouldn't have to cook too much on the passage. And, we took the afternoon off to nap, as we intended to leave at midnight, ensuring that we would arrive in Nyack, New Jersey before dark on the 3rd day. Well, by 6:00 everything was ready, so said what the hey, just means we'll have to go through New York Harbor in the dark. Piece of cake.

Leaving the channel, this container ship followed us out until it passed us. These things are really big when they are running next to you in the channel. Really, really big.

Bye bye Norfolk.

So, blow by blow. We ended up with no wind at all for the first 20 hours, then we motor sailed for 4 hours before there was enough wind to shut off the engine. Serena was feeling ill by then, so I let her stay in her bunk while Ray(the autopilot) and I sailed the boat for 12 hours in some pretty nasty stuff. But we were making good time. When the sun came up, I reefed down the sails a bit and turned the motor on. It was too windy for Ray to be able to handle the boat with a good sail set, and with a aft wind the boat was not balancing well. More importantly though, Serena wasn't in any shape to hand steer for a few hours while I got some sleep. She was quite the trooper for holding a watch at all, so I just made the boat easier for her to handle.

I had intended to wake her at 6:00 am, because I was starting to have a problem staying awake, but I decided to let her sleep until the sun came up. At 6:02 a hole about 10 feet deep opened up behind Vita, and the stern dropped into it like falling off a cliff, only to be instantly launched straight up in the air on the biggest wave I have ever seen in my life. She was pointed straight down into the hole she just fell into, and start to slide sideways along the face of the wave. I just had enough time to disengage the friction lock on the autopilot and drive the helm the other direction steering into the skid. The wave slipped underneath us, followed by two more very large waves before things settled back to normal. It was the most intense moment I have ever had sailing. If I hadn't of got a hold of the helm as quickly as I did, the boat may have broached, likely rolled, and probably took the mast off. It took awhile for my nerves to calm down before I went and woke Serena. The whole incident was just a little too spooky for my poor heart. I was loath to leave her in her condition, alone in the cockpit while I went below, but I couldn't stay awake forever. Besides that, from everything I've read, a wave like that comes along very seldom. 

In the afternoon I managed to get the alternator belt tensioned, which didn't do anything. The alternator stopped working after the first few hours of the trip. Thank god for solar panels to charge the batteries. I topped up the fuel tank from our jerry jugs, and got a few more hours of sailing in before I needed to take another nap. I knew it was going to be a long night, finishing up the New Jersey coast, and transiting New York harbor. So I set the boat up for easy handling again, so that Serena wouldn't have to work too hard. Bad enough that she was still feeding the fishes every 30 minutes or so. But she hadn't eaten in 2 days because nothing would stay down.

When I woke up and took over again, the winds had died a little, but the sea state again was treacherous. I left the boat set up the way it was and it remained that way until I dropped the sails in New York. But shortly after 5:00 I heard a distress call on the radio, as I mentioned at the start of the blog. I could see the boat from where I was, and it was getting beat to crap pounding into the waves and wind. After the rescue by the coast guard I listened to NOAA weather radio, and they were calling for outrageous winds and waves for the area we were in. So, the weather is deteriorating, a much larger boat just got wrecked next to us, and we had nowhere to go except New York, still 7 hours away. Not to mention that the wave direction could have made the entrance to the harbor impassible. To say we were a little concerned would be an understatement, but over the next 5 hours the winds abated completely, and the waves started to lay down. When we entered New York Harbor at 2:00 am, the weather was calm, and the skies were clear. A near perfect ending to a rather exhausting trip.

This was the sunrise after the first night. We were about 12 nautical miles off the Virginia coast, and the next piece of land in that direction, is Europe. What amazing colours!!

I again went to bed after sunup, and Serena made the run up the Hudson River to Terry Town, New York, where we stopped in and filled up on diesel. Upon leaving to cross the river to the Nyack Boat Club, we were pulled over by the local police. We have been stopped twice in our entire lives, both in the same spot, Nyack, New Jersey. Customs pays the local police to do their work here, and I get the impression that they get paid for every boat they pull over. So if your travelling through here, and you have a foreign flag, you'll get to meet them. They are very friendly, and Serena got pictures of them this time for the blog.

Man cops get nice boats.

So now we are in the Nyack Boat Club. They aren't even open for the season yet, but one of the members allowed us the use of his mooring ball, as his boat wasn't ready for the water yet. Another member took us to get propane, and everyone here has been so damn friendly that we are feeling guilty for staying. Unfortunately the weather has gone from bad to horrible, and we are stuck here for a couple more days to wait out another front. I just hope we do not overstay our welcome. This place is awesome. It reminds us a lot of our own self-help club back in Trenton.

So we'll sit here a little longer, then make our way to Casleton Boat Club where we will take our mast down. I called yesterday, and one of the members, said yeah, come on up, you can help me put mine up, and I'll help you take yours down. Must be the spring weather. Everyone we've met recently has just been so damn happy; gotta love it. Then on to Waterford, NY to wait for the Erie canal to open. Home is only 10 travel days away, but it'll take about three weeks, if all goes well.

Vita back to one six.

What's It Like Living On A Small Boat?

A tiny space you can't escape. Your partner becomes the monster you feared they might be. You sleep with one eye open in case your anchor drags, or your neighbors does. Its constant fear coupled with constant pain from having nowhere comfortable to be. You are a slave to the weather, and the mechanical systems. Leaks, poor cooking facilities, water conservation, and violent rocking from passing boats or passing cold fronts. Toilet smells, and showering in the cold, will drive you into a straight jacket before your time. Sounds heavenly, doesn't it.

Just kidding; mostly. This is a question that one of our readers asked recently, and although I am not sure that I will be able to paint the picture for everyone, I'll give it a go.

The best land based parallel I can give for living in a small boat, is like living in a small motorized RV. Cruising really is a lot like camping, although few of us would have any idea what camping for a year would be like. Even I can only imagine. We lived for 5 months in an 8 x 12 shed while we started building our house, and that came close, but we still had a car, and a way to escape if we needed to. There is little escape on a boat, and more so on a small boat. You learn to be more tolerant, more selfless, and willing to give up any idea of personal privacy, or you go home. Both Serena and I found that we rewrote our idea of privacy to include the two of us, instead of each of us. Of course that meant that there are some things that we never would have shared on land, that becomes part of "us", on the boat. That can be hard for some people. Now if you choose to romanticize it by saying that we have grown closer together, then that is true, but there are somethings about each other that may be better suited to the privacy of a land based bathroom, smells aside. That does not mean that there is no escape. Cruising is one of the most social activities that we have ever been involved in, and there is always someone around to offer an impartial shoulder, or just for a change of conversation. But overall, you will become much more intimate with your partner, and I don't think that is a bad thing.

We live on a 29' Bayfield, but it is as well equipped as most 35' cruising boats. So, although it is a small boat, its not as small as it may seem. We do lack any reasonable place to entertain. We chose not to have a shower, which we intended to install originally, but decided we didn't need. We lack a dinning room table, and room to have a dance. But; we have a great galley, a comfortable bed, a comfortable couch, incredible storage, a stove with oven, a good fridge and freezer, TV, a good quality toilet, bullet proof ground tackle, and an overall package that is easy for the two of us to handle.

But what is it really like. Well, that is complicated, because life on a small boat is pretty simple, its just about living. Performing the little things that need to be done on a daily basis, just to sustain life. Where it gets difficult is that no task is simple to perform, and the crew is always trying to find ways to make each little task simpler, or better suited to the environment. Figuring out where and how to store everything is a chore in itself that never seems to get a break. You have to take into consideration what you need, how often, how important is access, is the item safe in that location, and on and on. Then after you have tried it for a few weeks, you solidify the choice, or move things around. When you travel somewhere new, you go through it all again, because the meals you eat, the pastimes that you partake in, change your whole schedule and needs. Daily living is constantly changing and evolving in order the fit the surroundings in which you find yourself. And to be honest, the only difference on a bigger boat is that there is usually more room to store more stuff. Plus, if you are really lucky, you have more room to deal with the stuff. But this goes for everything. How do you handle water storage, treatment, usage. How to generate power, or conserve it. Balancing wants with needs, and becoming comfortable with the choices. A small boat is not an easy place to live, and that is probably the point. It is always challenging, on a most basic level, Its like playing house all the time, but the stakes are a little higher than getting in trouble for not putting away your toys. Its like being a pioneer in a 29' world.

But with all that work, and the constantly evolving environment comes the successes, and sense of accomplishment for a job well done. Finally figuring out the best way to make bread, because there isn't any within a few days sail. Learning how to prepare and cook some new food that until recently was completely foreign to you, but now is to become a new staple. All the little problems that you create solutions to, provide the energy needed to move on to the next issue, and conquer that. And for the cruising small boater, the knowledge gained from each new experience, brings its own conundrum in that it forces you to go further abroad to find the next challenge. When the overnight sail in the ocean has been done a couple of times, then you need that in rougher weather, or a longer range, just to push yourself to the next level. But, the counter point to that is that you no longer fear the overnight sail, its just a normal part of cruising. It is sad to say, but when we left our yacht club last Aug, we had very little experience. We had anchored overnight one time, on a smaller boat. We had traveled under sail or power for perhaps 400 kms total. We knew only what we had read. We were scared of everything. I hardly even slept the first few months when we are at anchor, bringing myself at times to wish that the boat would drag and be wrecked so that I could escape the responsibility of having to worry about the boat dragging. (And lets not try to analyze that). Now, after anchoring out countless numbers of days, in all kinds of conditions, heavy winds and heavy currents, I sleep great at night. I give the whole process of anchoring the respect it deserves, but I no longer fear it. In many ways living on a small sailboat is like relearning how to live. At least from my perspective in that it is only our first year. We have friends who have been our cruising for longer periods of time, some so long that living in a house is completely foreign to them, and I'll bet their view is a lot different than my own.

And that is really the problem with this question. The answer is different for everyone. I wrote a lot of words over the last couple of weeks for this post, and I ended up deleting all of them except the ones above. During the process I figured out that even Serena and I differ in our opinions of "what its like to living on a small boat". The only way to really answer the question is to give it a try. The only real advise I can offer is to go into it like a child with a new discovery; all smiles and giddy with excitement. Because living on a small boat is a hard life, but it is so rewarding that it is worth it.

March 2014 Endcap

Dates: Mar 1-31, 2014

Berry Islands, Bahamas - Vero Beach Florida – Florida – Georgia – South Carolina – North Carolina to Cedar Creek, ICW 130.

Sailing: 1 hr

Motoring: 227 1/2 hrs (includes motor-sailing)

Mileage: 922 Nm (Nautical Miles)

Budget Amount:      $1590.00 US (All budgeting is in US funds)

Charts/Books:          $      0.00     

Boat Parts:               $     92.00     

Marinas:                   $  154.00

Diesel:                      $  311.00

Beer:                        $   242.00

Grocery:                   $  327.00

Entertainment:         $   108.00

Fees/Services:          $    97.00     (pump-outs, laundry, wifi, taxis, etc...)

Clothing/Shopping   $    20.00

Misc:                        $   125.00     (Propane, hobbies, etc...)

Total:                      $1476.00

Debit/Credit:           $  114.00

Under budget for the 3^rd month in a row. Boo yah…. Okay, not that impressive considering that we did a big load up in Nassau the month before, which by the way, we still have most of. And, of course we have been travelling like our hair was on fire. The high beer bill accounts for the fact that it is so cheap here, and we found it on sale for $12.99 a two-four. That means that we have enough to get to Canada, probably. The diesel bill was high, but look at the mileage! To the non-boaty Canucks, that’s pretty close to 1750 kms, in a boat that does 7.5 km/hr. We are going to need to have our heads examined when we get home, but we are actually having a blast. Who knew we were the ones that people talk about.

So the plan for the month of March, was to make some miles toward home. And make miles we did, as evidence above. We discovered a new thing about ourselves in the process. Serena is goal oriented, and I am all about the mission. Good news is, when there is a mission, we are both pushing to see it done. Bad news is that sitting around drinking margaritas is only a casual pastime, instead of a retirement goal.

As disenchanted as we were with the ICW on the way down, we are appreciating it on the way back up. Quiet and comfortable every night, a sharp contrast from the Bahamas. Services only a few miles away, if we were willing to stop and use them. And nice friendly people. We have even had good luck with customs this time around, not one agent has been a pain in the ass, and that is probably a record of some sort. In fact, some of the customs agents have been extremely wonderful to deal with. Could be the beer talking! Oh, and of course wifi, everywhere!

On a sad note, we are so jealous of our friends that are still travelling down through the Caribbean. We miss the Bahamas already, and are feverishly planning the next trip with to-do and to-visit lists. The Place is magical, and although we left rather abruptly, most days we wish we had of stayed. On the upside, we know that next time we head to the Bahamas, we need way more time, way, way more time. We will probably leave Vita in Florida and drive home that year. Then go back down the following winter and do the Florida Keys, the pan handle, maybe even Texas, who knows. The sky is the limit!

The great thing is that this month we are seeing our future with a much better clarity than we have in the past. Our dreams have become more reasonable, and more attainable, but no less exciting. Finally, we are figuring out what we want from retirement, but we might need a vacation from ourselves if we keep pushing toward the next goal all the time.

That's it for this month. Next month I will try and do this again. The format may change a little as I go. If anyone reading the blog would like to see anything in particular, let me know, I may be able to squeeze it in, especially if it seems like good info to pass on.

Now back to your regular blogging........

Elizabeth City, North Carolina

Its a long story, and I will try not to bore you with too many details, but it must have been the work of a higher power that made all the ducks line up in our favor; to get so far, so fast. That or Serena had the whip out, and not the fun one!

Actually it has been a pretty good trip. It's ironic though, that when we left we heard stories about people cruising down south, who would get up early in the morning, drive all day, and put the hook down, get up early, and do it again. making miles without enjoying the trip was the belief. And I told everyone, that won't be us, we are going to take our time, move 5, maybe 6 hours a day, relax, and enjoy. Well, I was wrong, we are those people they talked about. The day before yesterday we did 12 hours. The day before that it was dark by the time we dropped the hook. We are machines........ Or maybe its just that there is nothing better to do out here in the middle of nowhere. Plus, Vita moves so damn slow, that if we don't put in the hours, we don't get anywhere. Oh well, plenty of time to rest when we're dead, isn't that what they say.

We are 50 miles from finishing the ICW and heading offshore to New York City, "when" the weather gives us a comfortable window. In the US for 4 weeks, and technically only about 2 weeks of travelling before we are home. It might take a month and a half....  We will rest and relax, and watch the weather man's report, looking for favorable winds and seas for the 60 hour trip from Norfolk VA, to Nyack, NJ. Three days and two nights. It will be our longest single trip yet, over 250 miles, and we are really looking forward to expanding our experience base.

The last blog was a while ago, but our internet has been very spotty at best, and we have been driving like mad people. We left off after our stop in the marina at Barefoot Landing in South Carolina. We did the whole marathon load the boat thing, and headed out to Little River Inlet to relax for a day before moving on.

I took the opportunity to make a drop down door for the companion way. It allows quick access to the cockpit, keeps the heat in, and is water proof to keep water out. It has been amazing. This is a prototype made from a shower curtain we had on board, but I will make this out of canvas after we make sure the design is sound.

We also filtered our water. On the way down we drank water bottles, but they are expensive, and take up a lot of room. In the Bahamas they are not really available in quantity, and are really expensive. So we bought this small water pitcher with a charcoal filter, and use it to filter our drinking water. It works so well, that we are still using it, and have not bought a case of water since we've been back. It takes about 2 hours to filter a weeks worth of water though. Serena does it while she watches TV, and I am in the cockpit making sure Ray(the autopilot) doesn't make me do another "stuck in the mud" post.

Back under way we headed up to Southport, but the free town dock was full, and the tides and wind were in our favor, so we pushed on up the Cape Fear river, and kept pushing until we dropped the hook at sundown in Wrightsville Beach. 

Tight spot, North Carolina. Okay, not a real place, but there was huge dredging operation going on, and we were traveling in 7' of water, in a narrow channel. Nail biter.

Okay guys, you win, I'll go around, or aground. Man this was tight.

Waking up in Wrightsville Beach. The morning was completely still. Cold as hell, but wow!

Mush doggy..... We drove on again, stopping in the old Hateras Plant that we stopped in on the way down. Another tight little spot. We had free wifi though, that was nice, but no energy to do anything with it. I think I may have quickly updated Facebook.

We ran across Bella Donna on the trip. Like a fish out of water, first time on the ICW. I remember that! They are to be featured on Shark Hunters this summer for six episodes. 

We got stuck waiting an hour for the bridge at the Camp Lejeune Firing Range, but at least they offered our own personal air show for the inconvenience.

Not all ICW markers are where they should be. Some are more obvious than others.

Then we made the mad dash through Beaufort NC. The weather was horrible, raining, cold, and windy. The day was actually pretty good right up until the end where we had a wind against tide situation, with a 5 mile fetch pushing us into a narrow creek. It was the most difficult piece of driving I have had to do the whole trip. By the time we got out of there I had a migraine headache, my neck was strained, and I was in no mood to even be spoken to. Then just as I was starting to relax a giant barge and tug almost put me into the shore on a tight corner. I just managed to slide in behind the tug as he passed me, keeping Vita off the shoal, and wham, a wind gust pushed her over 40 degrees. We didn't even have any sails up. It was crazy, but short lived. I have never been so happy to get the hook down, in Cedar Creek, where we would get stuck for 2 days. The winds topping out over 35 knots, and no protection from wind and waves. But it was surprising comfortable. Good holding, and lots of room, but loud and bumpy.

The second day we managed to get out of the creek. The winds were down to about 20 knots, and still we were knocked down to 1.5 knots leaving the creek into the Neuse River. We would not even have been able to make it out of there the previous day. I told Serena that it was only a hour and a half to get to Oriental NC, where we would tie up at the free dock, get some fuel, and maybe go out for dinner. Well.... we dropped the hook 24 miles north of Oriental at 8:00pm, after dark. The free dock full, the fuel dock shut down for upgrades, and the next fuel 5 miles off the ICW. But at least we were closer to Elizabeth City.

And it ended up being a beautiful sunset.

The next morning, in a haze, and a narrow channel. Hello Mr. big dude! There was plenty of water though. Thank god we weren't in Georgia.

The following day was long, 12 hrs, we pulled over in the middle of nowhere in the Alligator River. Then up and gone by 6:30 am. But now we are in Elizabeth City, chill-axin'. Went for dinner, and a walk. We'll do a few chores today, and the Art Walk is on Friday, so we'll take that in before we head further north.

Some days are hard to take.

Vita back to one six.....