Florida in the cold!

Pulled into Fernandina at 11:00 and enjoyed at nice night at anchor. Boatfish burritos are still very good!

This morning we go outside again. Maybe all the way to Cape Canaveral.... We will see.

Florida bound

We are heading south this morning at dawn with a group of boats bound for Florida. Going out Charleston Harbor and with luck we will be in St. Augustine, Fl by Saturday night

See you then!

Still moving......

The hot weather is still in another part of the world but Nati keeps pushing us south.  She took us past Myrtle Beach and the infamous "Rockpile" portion of the canal a little before we passed these barges.  We were really happy we didn't meet them in the Rockpile as it is very narrow and rocks are everywhere.  You go out of the channel for any reason........you become good friends with a local mechanic!

This tow was over 600' long!

and this one was behind the long guy!!

We pulled into Osprey Marina for diesel and laundry.  The cold weather makes you go through a lot of clothes and Osprey Marina has good machines along with very hot showers!!  Last night we had a great dinner at a local restaurant that will come and pick you up, Scatori's.

Then today........yep, more cold and more rain.  We may get close to a half inch today.

rain, rain go away.....

Note what our "dumb" barometer says.....

This morning we heard our friends Ian & Lynn, s/v Windward as they went by Osprey Marina.  It will be great to meet up with them later tomorrow after we go by Georgetown and head towards Charlestown.  Stay tuned for more fun..............

Another day in paradise

We pulled out of Carolina Beach yesterday to continue our fair weather slog south.  The balmy weather that one reads about in North Carolina continues to miss us....

room with view

sunny beachfront homes!

We made it down the Cape Fear River with no problem.....other than the current.  Overall we had the current with us 40% of the time yesterday and then it was uphill the rest of the time.  41 degrees makes the trip even more enjoyable.  Then when we got to our anchorage our traveling buddy, Sea Biscuit found the bottom and it made getting into the Calabash anchorage even harder so we bagged it and kept motoring to Myrtle Beach.  We ended up at Barefoot Landing Marina, basically a floating dock........but they had electricity so we had HEAT!

Sea Biscuit,  she is a steel beauty!

It can start to get warm any day now..........

High latitude sailing......."Nati style"

I know some of you may think differently..........sailing in the ICW in North Carolina is not high latitude sailing.  Like I read recently............."you know nothing!"

another "vacation" day

The benefits of sailing where it's cold........kind of like the Arctic.......but different.  No polar bears!

• Bug?  What bugs?  We have saved plenty on bug spray except for the ones hiding and when they come out to eat, they are very hungry!
• T-shirts, flip flops and shorts are not getting dirty or any wear.  
• The freezer and frig aren't getting a good workout since it may be colder outside the freezer then inside.
• Energy saved......don't have to cool the frig!
• The cabin does not get too hot using the oven.  Thanks gods!
• Fleece and foul wx jackets are being used.  Good thing we didn't spend good money for nothing!
• If we smell.......who knows??!!  There are too many clothes on to notice!
• I lied.......we took HOT showers tonight!!  Yippee!
• If the Green Bay connection comes through we'll have an Espar!
• BUT......then we'll have to have some Cheese Heads on board??!!  They do bring their good friend Rummy Dummy though and we aren't scared.
• The beer can stay in the locker......it's already chilled and it saves us so much time to jog in place to generate heat.
• We have plenty of suntan lotion.....don't worry about that.  Looking forward to future use.
• I have found socks I didn't know I had!
• Mr Heater is working well.  No rust on it at all.
• I've lost one pair of sunglasses overboard!  Who cares?  We haven't used them in weeks!!

And don't forget......this is real life.........not one of those long weekend adventures!

Today we did a long dash to Carolina Beach to continue our quest for 80 degrees.  No luck here and Anne's Bobcha fingers are sticking out big time.  Randy, the dock master for the mooring field in Caroling Beach came out to greet us and we didn't mind paying the fee as they are just starting the program up and participation is good.  He is willing to help out in any manner possible.

We hit 10.1 kts today..........MOTORING!  Yep, the current was over 2 knots and we made the Wrightsville bridge by one minute.  "Unimarans" were finding the bottom all over the place but Nati took good care of us.

Tonight........I'm eating our first Lasagne on board!!  Anne can sure cook!

Fairfield Harbor

We had a great stay at "The Royal Zeppi Marina".  Like always Reiner and Renate were great hosts and we had way too much fun.  Of course we had to go to Spunky McDugal's for some "Southern Irish soul food".......the beers are cheap there too!!

Nati was right at home at the dock ......

The day before we headed out we had our nicest day since being in the Dismal Swamp so we took a little cruise up to New Bern on "Feline Purr-fect", another vessel in the Zeppi Marina.  She is actually the boat Reiner & Renate bought when we bought "Nati" from them!  It felt very different cruising up to the city at 15kts!

The faithful crew

Yesterday we said our goodbyes and headed south once again.  Now the next stop is anywhere that is above 80 degrees!  From the "Royal Zeppi Marina" we made good time down to Spooner Creek and today was a quick run to Mile Hammock.  The bows are pointing south!!

Heading out of Spooner Creek at 7am!

River Dunes!

It seems this marina is one of our favorites.  The facilities are second to none and Nati likes to hang out and get washed up, etc.  After getting blown all over the place from Sandy it was enjoyable to have clean cold weather clothes.  We know (and hope) it will get warmer around this place.

River Dunes protected entrance

Can you see Nati?

After River Dunes we came down to our friends Reiner & Renate for a few days.  They have a nice spot to dock Nati and we really enjoy the good times we have with them.  After that.......the hammer goes back down and we head south!

Another shot from Slade Creek

This is what one looks like when you have to go forward on Nati to make sure all is well with the bridle and anchor.  It was we and breezy!

Hold on!