Full Moon Rising

Many of you may be wondering what, where, why, and with whom our journey continued and ended. Well it's been quite a trip - but ending not exactly the way we expected. We left Oriental on March 28, spent three days traveling. First day we bumped bottom leaving Oriental, the water is skinny and even if you don't cut corners, that's buoys, you can end up in heavy mud. I told Dave that if we got stuck on the mud without even leaving it means we would stay longer. The river gods were on our side for we crossed the Neuse, Pamlico, and Pungo rivers as well as Bay River and Goose Creek. We arrived in Belhaven (birthplace of the Inter Coastal Waterway) in the afternoon. Tied into the River Forest marina, great showers, helpful dock master and nice small town. In the morning we left before sunrise because it was going to be a long day, cruising at 8 knots took eight hours nonstop. We headed Northwest and into the Alligator River and the Alligator / Pungo Canal. This is a strange place, a ditch dug by the Army Corp to provide access from one waterway to the next and kept open for barges and commercial traffic. It's important that the boat stay in the center as much as possible except when passing or meeting another boat coming in the opposite direction. There are huge stumps from downed trees just below the water. The ones you can see are enough for any boat owner to know that a sharp lookout needs to be kept. We had to wait for the Alligator Swing Bridge to open, which it does every half hour and then pass into the Albemarle Sound, a large body of water that is well marked with red triangles and green squares each numbered so that your exact location is known. Dave likes the electronic charts provided by NOAA, I prefer the paper, to open a chart book that I follow as we go along, much like the old fashion road maps that gas stations gave out free of charge. Remember those? So onto Coinjock, the only stop with a marina, store and restaurant between Belhaven and Portsmouth VA. Most boater stop there. We had a good supper, the best crab cakes and enough prime-rib to last three more meals. A fellow tied up in back of us and we introduced ourselves and told him a bit about the Richard & Arnold. To our surprise he said, "I looked the boat up, you guys are famous." I had to laugh at that, not the reaction I expected. I think David Dunlap must have something to do with that because of his book Mapping Provincetown.
Next stop Rebel Marina, Norfolk, VA. One of the best places we've ever visited, minus the helicopters that flew close over head, but hey thank God they are there. The Briggs family was so helpful, kind, and knowledgeable that I can't say enough about them. For the week we spent at the marina the wind continued unabated, 20-30 and higher with gusts to 50, and then it turned and blew from the north 20-30-40-50. What a week. Now that I look back I believe the wind gods were looking after us. Dave was not well, he had been complaining of rib pain for weeks (refusing to go to a doctor). Well our son, the master mariner with a BS in Navigation told his dad that he shouldn't take mom off shore until he got checked out because holy moly what would she do if something happened to him while we were voyaging? So Dave and I borrowed a car and went to the Urgent Care office, from there we were sent to the ER at the DePaul hospital where he was admitted. Three days later, totally exhausted, we stepped onto a plane that flew us up up and away. Three planes later, that same day we landed in Provincetown. The medical news is not good. Three broken ribs (Pathological fractures) and some serious lung problem. We are glad to be home. I can look out the kitchen window and see a full moon coming up over Truro. I imagine the same moon over Oriental. We plan on beating it, rising above, and fighting every step of the way. I probably won't be writing much in the coming weeks, but I will let everyone know how the captain is doing. He's actually watching 'Deadliest Catch' as I write. All prayers are welcome. Thanks for your support. Nothing like coming home to family and friends. God Bless you all. Fair winds.

Update from Willoughby Bay

I'm sitting in the club house at Rebel Marina. Dave is in the shower and I thought I'd take a few minutes to update. We are still attached to the dock and waiting for the wind to give us a southerly flow and calm enough to take us safely up the coast to our next port of call, either Ocean City MD or Cape May, NJ all depends on the wind. Never thought I be so dependent upon what direction it came from, but here we sit. I'm not complaining, we have it pretty good here, a car to use, showers, internet and lots of nice people. Dave and I went to a get-together Monday night and had a feast with many other boaters, travelers and dock masters.  Food was great, company fun and talk lively. Im just getting a bit homesick and I have lots of catching up to do when I get home. Cleaning and getting the beach point house ready to rent. That's going to take time and I have guests coming in on June 11, so I'll have to hustle when I get home. Painting, rug cleaning, windows, curtains, the works. And then there is our house, I can just imagine what the yard looks like, there will be lots of raking and picking up. Moving from the boat to the house shouldn't take more than one day. There is the cleaning up, but that can wait - I can do that after we move back in. Dave has had a bit of a problem, seems he pulled muscles in the lower rib area and maybe even cracked a rib, but he's a trooper and is actually getting better. Two weeks ago he couldn't even move, taking lots of Ibuprofen, but now he's moving, less pain and less Ibuprofen. So this being tied in and waiting for the wind to let go  has helped Dave heal, a blessing in disguise. We are getting better, hope all is well with you. Fair Winds.

Rebel

Rebel Marina. We couldn't have chosen a better place to sit out the wind, waiting for a weather window. Last night it blew a gale, west at 50-60. Today its North 15-25.  As cruisers we get used to waiting for the right wind from the right direction. With today's technology we have the tools at our fingertips, literally on IPhone, to get a very accurate forecast of everything we need to know before setting out on the next leg of the journey. David Briggs along with his brother Steve gave us a quick tip on a really good APP called Sail Flow. Not only does it give us wind speed and direction, it gives wave height, wave direction, seconds between crests, temperature, cloud cover and all free. Dave and I have been checking it out as it gives a ten day outlook and right now the outlook doesn't look so good for traveling up the outside of MD, DE, NJ. I'd say we are here for a week. That's what cruising is all about: stop, wait, and meet new friends, hear their stories, and tell a few of ours. We have been welcomed here, even had the opportunity to go to a chili cook-off yesterday for lunch in the rain. The club house has all kinds of get togethers. Yesterday's get together was to help raise money for the local sailing club. There we met a couple who has lived aboard their sailboat for 13 years, they're from Australia now heading south to the Virgin Is. I got to be part of their conversation with another couple who are preparing their sailboat to head to Sweden, they have to be in Newfoundland by June to make the crossing without running into icebergs. We've invited them to stop in Provincetown Harbor and use our mooring if they get that way. Sounds like they might. Today Dave brought a man aboard who along with his wife bought a sailboat after only sailing on small lakes. They retired and wanted to try something different, so they set sail and went from Arkansas on the Gulf of Mexico around FL to the Bahamas and then up the east coast to here, an eight month trip for them. They are from Kansas and have decided that boat life isn't quite what they had in mind, their boat is for sale. We talk to sailors and cruisers daily, long distance blue water sailors and folks like us who wanted to give it a try. No matter what your experience, how much training you've had, or how expensive your boat, everyone has a story, that's part of the fun.
David Briggs who runs this marina along with his brothers has some of the best stories. He and my Captain Dave spend hours talking and swapping tales. Briggs has done it all, barge towing and salvage with his family, boat survey, scalloping and fishing in Alaska, hook fishing for Swordfish up and down the east coast, he teaches U.S. Coast Guard safety training classes and runs the marina. A true mariner and lover of all things boat related. His brother Steve works professional tugboats. He gave us a tour of the tugboat that belonged to his father that he is restoring. It's a tugboat/ schooner called Norfolk Roller, what an interesting little ship. He is fixing it for live aboard and for use with tall ships as tug, towing, helper and education. The boat is really beautiful, he's doing a great job.
We couldn't have picked a better place to lay low for a few days, thanks to Perry Davis owner of the Schooner Alert from an island in Maine who told us to try and stop here if we were in the neighborhood.We met him, his wife and little girl in Oriental.  Then we found out that our friend Gwen Wells who is married to Richard Quest and came to visit us with Jeff Parker all from Willmington, NC - worked here at Rebel Marina as a teenager, and Grassy/ Francis Santos has stopped in here many times, and Robert Harris who is sailing up from the Virgin Islands as I write, is planning on stopping in.  Small world this cruising business.
I can't wait to get home but I've so enjoyed meeting so many interesting, adventurous people. Fair winds ye mates.