Christmas 2010

It's definitely not a traditional Christmas.

We picked Dad up and drove up to the Mountain House Saturday, December 18.  Tuesday, we received a call that Dad's sister, Idalene, had passed away peacefully in her sleep the night before.  Thankfully, we had stopped by and seen her on the way up here.  She had had a stroke a few days earlier and didn't look good.

We started to make plans to leave the Mountain House and go to the funeral, which was on Thursday, December 23.  We had planned to stay in Cary Friday night to be with the kids for Christmas anyway, so we started thinking in terms of just going on home.  We plan to take the RV back for an upcoming trip to Florida in January to check on the boat (in Stuart, Fl). 

Tuesday morning around 2 am, we had to take Dad to the hospital with a blockage in his intestines.  They ended up sending him to Asheville because, if Dad needed surgery, the only surgeon at Spruce Pine is on vacation. 

Dad was released Christmas eve.  By now, the weather forecast starts talking about snow on Saturday.  Dad can't travel well, so we pick up some items at Walmart and head up the mountain to see if we have snow and if so, hunker down.



Christmas morning with the kids

Well, We've had snow. It started Christmas morning.  

Slade and I worked it out so we could be with the kids when they opened their Christmas presents - through Skype.  It almost felt like we were there - except for the hugs.

It's now Sunday afternoon and it hasn't stopped snowing yet.  The temperature is 20, and it's now supposed to start getting colder.  And the wind has picked up - it's predicted to get to 60 mph tonight and tomorrow.  With more snow. We're hunkered down for the long run.

I've checked the RV, cut on the heat, checked the generator - in case we lose power.  We'll move into the RV.  We sure aren't able to get off the mountain. 

We've probably had 10 inches (it's hard to tell how much because the wind is blowing) - in some places it's 2-3 feet and others 0.

Dad had made the comment on the way up here that he'd like to see snow on Christmas.  Maybe we should blame him.

And it's still snowing.

Monday

Sunday night the wind howled all night.  Based on previous experience when my aenometer was working, I estimate we had 60-80 mph gusts.  It snowed most of the night.

After sunrise, the skies started clearing and it finally stopped snowing around noon.

By this time, the wind had moved all the snow around.  We now have a 4-5 foot drift in front of the steps at the front of the house.

We also have a huge 4-5 foot high pile of snow in front of the garage where our car is parked.  Although it makes no difference for a couple of days because we certainly won't be trying to drive the car down the mountain, it is going to take a monumental effort to move the snow.  I've called Bryan McMurry who is plowing the roads with his tractor and asked him to try and get the snow our when he's back up here plowing again.  Otherwise I don't think it will melt until next summer.

I ventured out for a walk in the afternoon.  It is beautiful, but the wind is still howling.  I found an old set of ski goggles in the attic and wore them to keep the wind blown snow from stinging my eyes. 

The wind is supposed to lay down late tonight. 

The wind moves the snow

Beautiful wind carvings

Wind driven snow behind the screens

Slade called and he and the kids will be coming up from Cary later this week.  Something to really look forward to.

Wednesday, December 29

Slade, Candace, Evan and Anna arrived for Christmas.  Immediately we started opening belated Christmas presents

Thursday we went to Beech Mountain and we all tried tubing - fun,  but entirely too crowded for anyone to really enjoy.

The kids enjoyed to mountain of snow in the front yard about as much as going to Beech.

The kids visit makes the Christmas complete, with a lot of love and happiness shared.

Hopefully, this will not be the last of Christmas celebrations with Four Generations of Inscoes.

The kids leave on Wed, Dec 29 and we plan to leave the next week.  However, on Friday morning, Dec 31, we awake to more snow with a prediction of snow for the next few days, so we hurriedly pack up and head down the mountain.  We take Dad back to Nashville, and on Monday morning, Jan 3, we pick up Evan and Anna for a surprise trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord. 

On the way to Concord, we run into snow around Greensboro.  However we make it for a fun filled two days at an indoor waterpark.



Evan's little sister



Evan in his new sports coat

Mimi makes them laugh

We plan to go back to Spruce Pine for the rest of the week with the kids, however, upon checking with neighbors on the mountain, we find that they have had snow for the past 4 days, and it's impossible to get to the house, so we head to Beaufort for a wonderful time with the kids.

Thus ends a very different Christmas from any we expected or any that we have experienced before.

Nov 16-17

Wednesday

Port Canaveral to St. Lucie (Stuart, Fl)

We get off to a great start.  By noon we're through the inlet and in the ocean for what promises to be perfect conditions for sailing 1 or 2 nights.  We are able to motor sail or sail the afternoon.  We stay within 2 or 3 miles of shore because of the Southern current we are running into - I guess it's the outskirts of the Gulf Stream.

Sunset is beautiful.

Around 7 PM, we decide that we probably should cut the trip short.  Clara can't come down as planned for the next phase, and we've checked with Jim Moores in Palm Beach about what it will cost to keep a boat there for a few weeks - about $900 per month.  We figure we'd best start looking further away from the high priced Palm Beach, Miami area.

However the guide books suggest that you don't even attempt the St Lucie Inlet in the daytime, much less at night, without some local knowledge.  We call Tow Boat and they advise against it, however, a local boater overheard the conversation and said he would meet us at the outer marker and guide us in.  Lucky for us.  It is a very tricky inlet.  We got down to 1 foot under the keel. We would never have made it without his assistance.  He brought us in to an anchorage and went on his way. 

Thursday morning we start checking on local marinas, and true to our guess, the rates are much more reasonable.

We start up the engine to get closer to some of the marinas that we want to check out and within a few minutes we get an engine overheat warning.  We quickly anchor and upon checking the engine compartment find that one of the belts has shredded.  Thank goodness for spares.  Joe and I are able to take everything apart and replace the belt and we inspect the impeller while we're at it.  Everything now works okay.

Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart Fl

We contact Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, FL and they have space on a mooring for us.  We check everything out and it seems like a reasonable rate ($275/month) and we make arrangements to have someone check the boat and batteries every week. 

Now we start making arrangements for a rental car.  But no rental agencies are willing to make one-way rentals this weekend because of the holidays.  Finally, we are able to make an on-line reservation with Hertz.  We pick up the car tomorrow and head back to Beaufort.

Nov 15-16

Monday, Tuesday

We left Daytona Beach mid-morning Monday heading to Ponce de Leon Inlet to go offshore.  The seas were subsiding and the wind forecast is favorable to 2 or 3 days outside.

As we get outside, we find the wind very light, and sometimes none at all.  It looks like it's going to a good motor/sail to at least Ft. Pierce and maybe even beyond.

On this leg we go around Cape Canaveral and pass the Kennedy Space Center.  We are able to see the Vehicle Assembly Building and Space Shuttle at the Space Center all day long.  Around sunset we are passing the Space Center and planning for a pleasant evening. 

We have found the weather forecast generally be useful for only one thing - and that is that the forecasters predict there will be weather.  That's about all.  The wind speed and direction have never been right - and tonight, the forecasters have maintained their 100% record of being wrong.  They are calling for late night increase of wind to 10 to 15 mph out of the Southwest, and dieing down by morning.

Around 9 pm the winds do start to pick up - straight on the nose - about the time we pass the Cape. 

I laid down to take a brief nap and when I woke up around 10:15, the winds are howling, running 15 to 20 knots right on the nose.  The seas are building and it is getting very uncomfortable, with the nose of the boat diving into the waves.  We're having a hard time making 3 knots motoring into the waves and prospects don't look favorable for another 8 hours of beating into the wind.  We can't even use the sails to help stabilize the motion.

We take our bearings and see that we are about 10 miles offshore from Port Canaveral and decide that we should probably head there.  One of the most worrisome things is coming into an unknown port in the dark, but the charts show a well marked channel and our phone GPS systems have been operating flawlessly.

After we make the turn back to the Northwest, the ride becomes much more comfortable.  We make contact with Tow Boat US (FYI,  Tow Boat US called us this morning to see if everything was alright - that's good customer service)  for local knowledge and he suggests that we plan to tie up at Port Marina's fuel dock when we get in and settle up with them in the morning. 

We make it to the marina around 12:30 am.  We had no problems navigating in.  We did observe a major blob of light coming out as we were heading in.  Port Canaveral is the embarkation point for several cruise ships.  They are an imposing site at night on the sea.

Tuesday morning we check the weather and find that the prediction of winds has once again been wrong, keeping up the 100 % record.  They were supposed to swing more Westerly and drop off, however, they are out of the South (our intended direction) and running 15 - 25 knots.

So we decide that we will once again get on the ICW.  It was interesting leaving Port Canaveral.  There is a canal going inland and you have to actually go through locks that raise and lower the water level 3 to 4 feet. 

We motor sailed all day down the ICW with winds running 15 to 20 knots. 

Tonight (Tuesday) we are anchored  near the Sabistian Inlet.  It has been a very pleasant evening with very comfortable temperatures.  I'm beginning to feel like we're getting far enough South to begin feeling good again.  The area we're in reminds me a lot of the Florida keys - really whetting my appetite to get down there.

We again hope to be able to get outside tomorrow for a 2-3 day run South, but we are flexible.

Nov 14

Sunday, Nov 14

Our two week anniversary.  We left Beaufort two weeks ago today.  It's been an interesting and educational journey thus far.  A few frustrations - alternator -, lots of excitement - sailing in BIG seas, and something new - sailing offshore overnight.  I hope the rest of the journey is equally exciting and educational.

We did not get offshore.  The seas are still running real high, even though the wind has decreased to around 10 knots.  We decided as we went through the inlet at St. Augustine that we didn't want to be rolling in those seas with such a light wind - so we sailed a loooong day in the ICW.  If there is one part of the trip that is the least fun, it is sailing on the ICW.

However, we did get to see St Augustine.  We wish we had planned a day or so there.  There waterfront is among the most beautiful I've ever seen - and they have mooring balls to tie up to.  Lots of them.  It is a shame that Beaufort doesn't have mooring balls.  The harbor would be so much more attractive to transient boaters. 

Along the waterway, it continues to amaze me the fine homes and boats along the waterway.

We went a long way today, and it really is a drag listening to the engine all day and watching the homes and swamps roll by.  But it's the price you have to pay to get where it's warm.

We had a special visitor for a while today.  A couple of dolphin swam along with us for a while.

And it's actually beginning to get warm.  This is the first evening that we can be outside comfortably. 

We've found that our cell phones, both of which have Navionics charts on them are our best GPS system.  We've turned off the boat's GPS system - it doesn't have Florida charts on it anyway.  But the charts on the phones are great.  We've even found a good use for the radar on the boat.  It holds the holder for the cell phone.  This is the first time we've seen the radar useful.

However, with old eyes and small print, we've also come up with another essential piece of boating equipment.

We stopped tonight in the Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach.  It's a real fine facility.  Our little sailboat gets lost in the big (expensive) boats that are here. 

As we think about tomorrow, we both feel we want to get back on the ocean, so we hope to go out the Ponce de Leon Inlet a few miles South of here and stay on the ocean a couple of days.  Maybe the seas have calmed down a little.  We'll see.

Nov 13

Today, we motored all day in the ICW.  It's still to rough out in the ocean for timid sailors like us.  Seas are 10 to 12 feet.

We went through Jacksonville Florida this morning.  But the navigator (me) got the Captain (Joe) messed up and we went up the river rather than following the ICW.  After discovering this, we turned around and I'm trying to forget it.  However, later when we got in the waterway, Joe promptly ran the boat aground (which is pretty easy in this area).  Fortunately, we were able to extract ourselves from the sandbar with a little reverse on the engine.

We stopped for lunch and a run to a West Marine Store South of Jacksonville.  We found that we didn't have any paper charts for Florida - and they are pretty important to know where you're going.  They may help us keep from going aground some.  (I think this is the 3rd time this trip).

It's interesting on the waterway here.  There are LOTS of real fine homes, just like around Myrtle Beach.

And some of the real fine home have lots of toys.

We're anchored in a very secluded creek just of the waterway tonight. 

MAYBE tomorrow we can get back in the ocean for a couple of days.

Nov 12

Friday, Nov 12

We up anchor early today and head down the ICW behind Jekyl Island to get fuel and water.  After refueling and traveling on down, the ICW intersects the next inlet right on the ocean.  We decide that we have the time and only plan to travel about 15 miles further today, so decide we might as well go on the outside.

This ends up being one of the most challenging and exciting sails I have ever taken.  The winds are running 15 to 20 knots out of the North and there are heavy swell of 8 to 10 feet and their are lots of shallow water right around the channel going out.  The combination of these  gives Eureka (and crew) the ride of our lives.  We have breaking seas and rolling seas laying Eureka 40 + degrees on her side.  The boat handles all of this in stride.  The crew just hangs on.  This short video clip will give you some idea of the ride - however we couldn't take video when it got rough, we were just hanging on.

We run downwind with the rolling seas following us, giving the autopilot more of a challenge than it can handle most of the time so we are hand steering trying to keep the boat on a heading of 180 degrees.

We come in the St Marys inlet which is the dividing line between Georgia and Florida and get out of the action.  We travel several miles down the ICW and end up anchoring in the middle of nowhere just off the waterway.  As the picture shows, we are at least a mile out in what I guess you could call a swamp that has deep water channels running through it.  There doesn't seem to be anyone else within sight.  The evening should be quiet.

We're finding planning to be useless.  Every plan we make we change.  It looks like we "MIGHT" make Jacksonville or vicinity tomorrow.

Nov 11

Thursday, Nov 11

Sapelo to St Simon

We awakened fairly early and had a casual breakfast and finally got away around 8:45 am.  The weather sounded good and we initially planned another run like the last outside - overnight with a preliminary goal of St. Augustine, FL.

We almost immediately put up the sails as we went out the long channel to the ocean.  As was the case on arrival yesterday, we were going against the tide.  The tides run up to 1.8 knots in this area.  I believe we had more like 2.5 knots.

As we got out, we set our course at 180 degrees with following seas and following winds.  As we settled in, we started cross checking and realized that at the speeds we were running, we would arrive in St. Augustine around 3 am.  Arriving at a strange destination in the dark is not something we want to try, so we start rethinking our destination.

About the same time we are rethinking our destination, the winds have built to 20 knots and the seas are running 4 to 6 feet.  The weather had talked about a strong low pressure near Bermuda that was causing big ocean swales, and we were beginning to really see the swales.  And we were running downwind.  The boat is rolling 30 degrees either side of center, making for rapid changes of up to 50 and 60 degrees.  And the weather forecast is for increasing winds to 15 to 20 knots (which means 20 to 25 knots).

We make a prudent decision that this is not conducive to safe night time operations.  Every time we go on deck we put on a life vest and safety harness - and it's daylight.  It will be much more dangerous and uncomfortable in the dark.

We started looking for reasonable inlets that we can make in daylight and finally decide on St. Simons.

The sailing was a lot of fun, especially when we were able to change course and not be running dead downwind.  Probably the longest, most fun sail we've had.

We arrive at St. Simons around 5 pm, just in time to find a good anchorage before sunset.

Based on the current weather forecast and the fact that we need to get fuel, we will probably take the next leg on the inside.  It looks like by the weekend we should be able to get back outside and make some more great overnight runs.

Our voyage today.

I sure hope so.  It's still a long was to South Florida.

Nov 6 - 9

Georgetown Nov 5-9

Georgetown to Sapelo Sound

After determining that we had a faulty alternator and getting Bruce Brainard to work on it, we planned to stay in Georgetown until Wednesday. So we settled in for the stay.

Bruce plays bass in a band “Foreclosure” and he told us about the “Taste of Georgetown" that would be held Saturday in downtown. His band was playing.

Saturday, we awoke to bone chilling cold in the upper 30's. Deju vous all over again.

We walked downtown around noon, watched the band (their fingers were cold), and decided we wanted a good cheeseburger from “the Big Tuna” on the waterfront. After lunch we went back and listened to the band and had dessert.

Georgetown has a community theater and had a show of Broadway Musicals playing Saturday evening, so we went to it. It was some good singing and we enjoyed it. They have a great theater and it was full. We sat in the balcony, but the sound and view were great.

Sunday, we decided we needed some supplies (i.e. a space heater) from Walmart. We checked the GPS and it was about a 3 mile walk. We needed the exercise. We picked up a few things (space heater) at Walmart and decided that we could afford a taxi back to the boat.

Monday morning Bruce called and said he had located a new alternator. We could drive to Charleston and pick it up or have it shipped. We opted to rent a car and drove to Charleston. We picked up a couple movies at The Red Box on the way back and that provided our evening entertainment.

Tuesday morning Bruce came over and had the alternator fixed by 11:00. By 11:30 we were underway headed out to the Ocean for our first real opportunity to sail offshore on the trip.

We had a destination of Beaufort SC, figuring we would arrive around 6 or 7 am Wednesday morning.

Our trip South this time is our first overnighter on Eureka.

Weather called for north winds around 10 knots and we were excited that we could probably sail all night.

 Ends up that most of the night the winds were out of the Southwest, so we ended up motoring until around 2 am. Then the winds started clocking to the Northwest. We put up the sails around 2 am and shut down the engine. It's 8:30 am now and we're still under sail.

This was our first overnight offshore sailing.  It is incredible to sail at night offshore with no lights to interfere with seeing the sky.  There was no moon after about 10:30 and it really gets dark.  You can't tell the sky from earth.  It all is black.  The starts are magnificent.  You can see millions.   Sailing in the dark compares somewhat with flying by instrument in an airplane.  You have to depend on your compass and GPS - sailing by instrument - because there are no visual references.

Sailing at night is a whole new perspective.  With the engine off and no night at all, you can barely see the bow wave.  It seems that you are moving fast looking at the bow wave.  We did average about 5.7 knots. 

The whole trip ended up to be 171 nautical miles for the 28 hours.

We decided that we need to get further South while conditions are good, so we have a tentative destination of St. Catherines Sound about 40 NM further South than Charleston. We should arrive around 1 or 2 PM this afternoon.

During the overnight, Joe and I took alternate short naps, with both of bringing our sleeping bags on deck while the other was on-watch. That worked out well, although it was rather cool all night.

The sunset and sunrise were nice and the weather is still looking great.

September 10

Turns out that we decided to go into Sapelo Sound for the evening.  It's further South and we were able to make it before dark. 

We anchored in a beautiful place off Sapelo Island and met a couple (Lilly and George Haywood) on a trawler from the area.  They told us some interesting information about the area. 

This reminds us a little of Cape Lookout because it is so isolated and well preserved.

The Journey to date