May 31st Update - We're in Coinjock

After departing Ocracoke on Thursday, a day later than planned due to AWFUL weather (it rained all day), we headed across the Pamlico Sound to the Pamlico River, to the Pungo River and up to Jordan Creek and the River Rat Yacht Club. It was a rolling and pitching ride until we reached Pamlico Point and then the pitching stopped and we finally got to roll out a sail for the 2nd half of the trip. We held our breath in 5'4" Jordan Creek but never bumped and tied up at the River Rat's visitors dock. Lots of wine was consumed, a nice dinner aboard Long Gone and best of all, I got to catch up with my girlfriend Melinda whom I don't see as often as I'd like.

May 30, 2008 - Little Alligator River Anchorage
Position: Position: N 35º 56’.497, W 076º 03’.398
Yesterday we departed early and headed up the Pungo to the Alligator Pungo Canal. It's a desolate place but pretty in its own way. Chris finished his book while I steered the 24 miles through the Canal. When we came out the Alligator River, we were treated to an air exercise by a couple of fighter jets. Man, they were loud! The Alligator River was rocking and rolling and we had to stop at Alligator River Marina for fuel as the Dowry Creek Marina on the Pungo blew a fuel hose trying to fill us up. We thought about stopping for the evening as it was already 6 pm, but they wouldn't allow us to stay on the face dock and we didn't want to risk docking as it was just honking by then. By the way, our experience in the Alligator River Marina was not favorable AT ALL. A surly dockmistress made us want to depart as quickly as possible (it was so awful that there will NOT be another next time for us at Alligator River Marina). Five miles up river was the anchorage that we had picked out for the night and we ducked into the Little Alligator River about 6:30 pm and set the hook. Fortunately it set right away and we were in for the night - almost a 60 mile day--a lot for the Long Gone crew. The wine was poured, the soup made hot and the crew was Long Gone in bed for the evening.

We left the anchorage this morning (May 31) at 6 am since we heard that weather was coming this afternoon. We threaded our way through BUNCHES of crab pots and made it into Coinjock by 11:30am. We were able to hail Wilde Matilde (a boat we met in Ocracoke) and she had planned to anchor off Buck Island tonight - about 10 miles south of here. We plan to meet tomorrow in Great Bridge at the City's FREE dock (yippee)! From there a grocery store is within walking distance and it's time to provision the important stuff like fresh veggies, fruit and WINE . Since we are at the marina known mostly for its excellent steaks, we're going to treat ourselves to dinner out tonight. We deserve it!!!! We miss all of you!!!!!

Cruising – Part II continues (Saturday May 24, 2008)

We left New Bern in pouring rain and it was CHILLY—so much so that we were able to see our breath in the cockpit on the way to Oriental (hard to believe we’re at the end of May!). Once we tied up at Oriental Harbour Marina, the sun broke through and the weather was gorgeous. Oriental is a town with more sailboats than people (my kind of town) and the whole town gathered on Saturday night for a block party, complete with southern style barbecue and all the fixings (box wine included!). There was a great band and the street became a dance floor. We traveled with S/V Charisma and M/V Vat 19 and their crew. A great time was had by all. We also met up with some friends (S/V Shu Shu Ga) and saw their new house being built so that was a treat too! It’s a craftsman style cottage right on the river with such great views...just wonderful!! About 1:30 am on Sunday morning, a loud explosion woke me up. I went up in the cockpit and saw flames shooting everywhere from the direction of Oriental Marina so naturally I freaked! Chris & I hurried up the dock and through the town to investigate. A large shrimp boat sitting in Oriental’s harbor was on fire and Oriental’s all volunteer fire department was having a very tough time extinguishing the flames. They finally got it under control and Chris and I were in bed by 2 am.

Sunday, May 25, 2008 – We arrived in Ocracoke
We were sailing by 7 am this morning. Yikes! It’s Donnie and Vicky’s (S/V Charisma) 1st wedding anniversary so we’re tagged along to help them celebrate. It was a wonderful sail over with a great dolphin show as we approached Ocracoke. Tonight is for “pillaging and plundering” pirate-style so this afternoon is nap-time for this tired crew. We’re at the National Park dock until we leave on Wednesday morning. Right now we’re planning to go across the Sound and up the Pungo River to the River Rat Yacht Club to visit my friend Melinda (S/V Celerity). Can’t wait to catch up on some girl talk!

We're HOME!

We got out of the ICW yesterday and Donnie & Vickie aboard "Charisma" met us up river and we raced towards New Bern in about 17 kts. of wind. Both boats hit speeds of 7.2 to 7.3! It was awesome and we had such a WONDERFUL time. Charisma even had her mizzen sail up and she was GORGEOUS! It was the first time in over a month and a half that Long Gone did any real sailing and it was such a thrill. We're at the T-Head at the Bridgepointe awaiting a slip where we'll be for the next month and then head up to Baltimore/Annapolis and points north.

We're in Surfside Beach, NC

It's been an "interesting" couple of days. The forecast again has been incorrect and we've fought winds and cold temps for the past 2 days. We left Southport yesterday morning at 7 am and battled current and wind up the Cape Fear River. Our goal yesterday was Hampstead, but after we missed the Wrightsville Beach Bridge by only 5 minutes and would have had to keep idling and turning around for almost an hour in 30 knots of wind, we decided to just stop and dock at the Bridgetender Marina. We had hoped for better weather today but it just was not to be. We wanted to get north of the 3 opening bridges and at least we made that goal. Swansboro would have been nice but going through the New River area at low tide and in this wind would have been nuts.

We are at the Beachhouse Marina in Surfside Beach, NC (close to a grocery store and ABC store). Our docking in 30 knots of wind coming in here was NOT pretty and we've vowed not to leave unless the winds are calm tomorrow. We've been traveling with a buddy boat that we met in Myrtle Beach named "Blue Moon" and they are from NY. They created "an adventure" today. Chris & Walt (the owner of Blue Moon) went to check into the marina. Shortly thereafter, Kristen (the female off Blue Moon) came frantically knocking on our boat saying "our boat is sinking". Man...those are words that chill a boater to the bone. I came flying off our boat, ran up to the office to get Walt and he and Chris came running back full tilt. The water was gushing from between their floor boards at this point. Walt quickly located the problem fortunately (stuffing box) while Chris pumped frantically. All is well now, but needless to say, we will be drinking rum tonight! I'm making stir fry for the crowd as it's just too windy to grill a darned thing. Now that we're so close to home, we are anxious to get there and see everyone and just settle in a bit and relax.

Arrived back in Myrtle Beach, SC (April 13)

We left the anchorage quite early as it was NOT a peaceful night. Since the wind was blowing so hard, we felt compelled to check the anchor frequently so a good night sleep was not had by all. We danced at anchor all night long and with the wind and current, it made for some worry. We are now at Barefoot Landing Resort. WHAT a place. The 3 condo buildings are huge – about 15 stories high and the swimming pool is reported to be the largest in South Carolina. The onsite restaurant and bar had live music last night so we went and listened and drank some wine (hard to believe, I know). We had intended to stay here for a bit since it’s so convenient to everything, but pricing just isn’t competitive so we’ll move further north. We provisioned the boat as there is a Bi-Lo just down the street and did some laundry. We’ll take the dinghy over to Barefoot Landing later today and explore all the quaint shops. We’ll try to make Southport tomorrow and then hopefully they’ll be a weather window to head outside as we want to avoid the Figure 8 Island Swing Bridge which only opens twice per day.

Anchorage at Bull Creek (Waccamaw River, SC) - April 11

Position: N 33º 36’.318, W 079º 05’.924
Tonight we anchored in Bull Creek – the widest creek off the Waccamaw River. We launched the dinghy and went exploring. The creek went on for miles – we stopped at the fork and returned since it was becoming quite shallow and it would have been a LONG row back to the boat if we had ruined the dinghy motor. When it turned nightfall, there were several owls that were “calling” – very cool. About 7 pm another sailboat (named if you can believe this, Charisma) also anchored in the creek but they were much further toward the mouth of the creek. After exploring we determined that an even better anchorage was just around the bend where we had set our anchor – we’ll know next time that it was a bit more sheltered there, as the wind was really whipping.

We FINALLY anchored out!!!

Position: N32 degrees 36.943, W80 degrees 16.462 -Steamboat Creek
We anchored in a WONDERFUL place last night off the North Edisto River called Steamboat Creek. It had a small brick structure called the "octagonal house" and was described in the Cruising Guide as having been used by the wealthy plantation owners as a steamboat stop to take them to Charleston (I apologize for the picture - it was late afternoon when we arrived and early morning when we left so the picture isn't the best). The William Seabrook House, a very historic plantation house was directly behind it. Unfortunately, we got to the anchorage late in the afternoon so couldn't get the dinghy ashore before nightfall to explore. We were surprised that we were the only boat back there but we were in a "parade" of power boaters and I'm sure they were far ahead of us by late afternoon. This creek was probably a mile from the ICW but well worth the extra time. Depths remained at 18 ft. even at low tide for about 1/2 mile into the mouth of the creek. We made it to Isle of Palms today since we needed fuel and we enjoyed it so much the last time we were here.