Pictures

Gloves would not fit over my cast so I used my camera lens bag 

t

o keep my hand warm

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We are enjoying our time here in Beaufort. Making new sailing friends. Went to a place called the filling station Friday night and had a delicious gigantic ribeye and a baked potato for 10 bucks each. It is a popular cruisers spot here. Spent Christmas with Tim,Morgan and Zelda. Ate too much food received. Some wonderful gifts and just had great family time. Sunday before Christmas the 4 of us ventured to the mall and downtown Savannah. What an amazing downtown Savannah has. We have been doing some boat projects this week. Put new windows in the boat we had custom ordered before we left Carlyle. That was easy they slipped right in we dry fit them then we caulked and screwed them in. Next day we decided to install a new running light on the bow sprit this was very involved because we were drilling holes in the stainless steel and running new wire through the pipe. So Joe took th bow sprit off then we decided we had everything torn apart so we would also put the new cleats on too they were in a box on the boat when we bought it. But there was wood underneath the cleats, we sanded and stained the wood plugged the old cleat holes and old running light holes. Took off the bow sprit stanchions to put tape under them to seal them good. That was the first day. Day 2 of the project. Joe had to few challenges getting the wiring through the bow sprit. Several tries were made and a few choice words were spouted. Boat neighbor came by with some better string. Joe use the vacuum to suck the string through and then he could pull the wiring. We esventually got the bow sprit back on and the cleats not without some hassle and a few more choice words and a beer break because of the frustrations. Always gotta have your priorities in orderyou know how it is. Joe wired the new light on today. One more project done. Tim came to visit us today with Zelda. What a stinker that puppy is but very cute.. Having visitors from St Louis this week. Can't wait yo see our friends. Happiest of New Year yo you all.ttfn.

we have arrived in Lady's Island South Carolina near Beaufort (pronounced buuu fort). we will stay here for a month or so doing some work on the boat,  visiting with Tim and Morgan, touring local historical places and i need to get my arm all healed up so we can take off for warmer waters. my arm is making progress but still has a long way to go.  i can still only type with my right hand and am limited at many other things it is very frustrating. 
we left at dawn this morning on high tide so that we could get through some stretches of the waterway that were to shallow or shoaling for the draft of our boat.  it was a spectacular sunrise. a dense fog was hanging over the marsh but not over the water, colors of orange and purple were coming up under the clouds and they were glowing.  the water was calm and the reflection from the clouds was perfect.  only the ripples from the trail of our wake disturbed the water.  i will post those pictures on Sunday. we had 36 miles to go so we made it all without any trouble until we got within sight of marina cut the green marker too close and got stuck in the mud for about 5 minutes.  earlier in our trip i did the same thing one morning i tried to cut across to a marker and ran aground and we were stuck there for about 20 minutes so we have both had our turns at that, me more than Joe though. lol.   Joe was driving at the time but he also got us free we took a different approach between marker and bridge and took it very slow into the channel as the tide low. everything goes by tide here not wind because we are so close to the ocean. local knowledge of the daily tide flow has helped us tremendously. 
when we got to our dock there were 4 guys waiting to catch our lines only one worked here.  it was a very warm welcome. the lady in next slip gave me some carnations as she had extra.  while i was talking to her joe already had another guy, tom, on the boat looking at a place to install a windlass.   as the afternoon went on we had people coming over to the boat to introduce themselves and we got a tour of the facilities here.  our new sailing friend rick from spin drift is also here, i told you about him in an earlier blog post.
safe and sound here. will post again soon
maybe i will tell you the story about camp lejune.  hmmmmm!

next few days after oriental were pretty routine. get up put things away.  motor all day anchor at night.  very cold mornings with no heat.  pulled into a great marina called spooners in moorehead, found it in a book, was a narrow channel to get into but tide was high so we had no problem.  stayed there one night so we could use wifi get some heat and much needed hot showers.  this was part of a condo complex that took a couple of transient boats a night.  we have been very fortunate to find so many great places to stay.  we usually find a marina to go into every 3 days or so rest of time we anchor, it is quieter and free.

saw our first pod of dolphins.  we are close to ocean just over sand dunes.

3 days later we pull into southport marina.  dock guys helped us tie up.  great place.  we ran out of propane the day before so now we have no heat and no way to warm anything up so we went to southport, wonderful facilities.  we call the local hardware store to see if the fill tanks and yes they do. we get boat settled start the laundry and begin our 2 mile walk one way to get propane.  we get half way there and joe asks me what is on the shopping list.  i said propane  SHIT  !!!!!! we forgot the propane tank.  so we walk all the way back to boat.  it is dark now.  joe gets the tank and we start walking again.  i see a truck pulling out from zimmermans  marine right next to the marina.  i tell joe to stay on street instead of sidewalk maybe this person in truck will offer us a ride.  AND  HE DID!!!   LOL!!  he took us to store and back,  thanks steve,  he was manager of marine shop and a fellow sailor.  he knew how far we were gonna have to walk.  next day we had his guys come to boat and make adjustments to the stuffing box.  it will get us by until we get it repacked.  we stayed 2 days in southport. Joe had to get work done and we needed internet to do that, cleaned boat, washed all salt off.  met some great people. hank a fellow sailor has a chart briefing at 6 every night and gave joe some extremely valuable shoaling information that we used the last 3 days.  hank also has a shuttle service to stores and back. i hired him so i could provision.  did some Christmas shopping, finally. 

by they way Merry Christmas to all of you.   

i skipped a part in my last blog.
on our way down the pungo river we were passed by an ip38, spin drift,  skipper is rick.  we talked with him over radio and he gave us some good advice.  we followed him most of day once we got out to the sound he put his jib up and took off. we were rounding the bend off the red marker, to the sound and i was at helm, always stay to middle of channel,  hit something hard and came to a complete stop.  my first grounding as skipper, and it was not the last ( but that will come later). spent a few hours on the sound heading toward Belhaven NC and our engine starts to smoke.  our stuffing box was not dripping water onto the drive shaft.  joe poured water on it about every 15 minutes and cooled it down.  we were still on sound and our jib was out so we were still moving.  we were headed for an anchorage but we called the Belhaven marina to dock up because of the engine thing.  rick is way ahead of us we see his sails are down and he is anchored.  we hailed him and asked if he needed assistance.  he said his starter battery was dead and his battery pack was not charged.  we fortunately had a brand new set of jumper cables so we drove by him handed him the cables and rick said it was just like tagging the committee boat.  went into marina rick came in too.  we met the most wonderful dock master and her husband.  this place was well kept and the bathrooms were just like going home.  would stay there again if given the opportunity.  had dinner at the tavern with rick found out his wife had passed away a month earlier but he knew she would not want him to delay his sailing trip so he is out here. what a great guy he is.  we have talked to him a few times since then.  we are meeting up with him in beaufort.

My last post was quite a while ago. internet has been hard to come by lots has happened.  we moored out at Broadhead creek on Saturday after thanksgiving in a beautiful spot we were surrounded by marshland.  no noise but a few birds around.  It was just us and the bald eagle.  We did have another boat we could see the Walter J. woke up next morning expecting to leave and we were fogged in.  I am not talking a thin fog we are talking pea soup type fog.  we checked the weather forecast and it said fog was going to lift by 10:00  so we waited.  At 10 still no lifting. Forecast was going to be bad for 3 to 4 days and we did not want to sit for that long.  Walter J pulled anchor and drove by he was going.  We talked about it decided we would go too we hauled anchor and left out of our lovely mooring spot via GPS exactly how we came in.  We were going to turn back if the fog did not lift. We were headed across the Abermarle Sound which is about as deep as Lake Carlyle but very wide so when the wind kicks up there are big waves.  We had 5 mph winds but thick fog.   For 4 hours we navigated through the fog.  Turned the boat around at one point to go back then Joe turned back and kept going Saw a black glove floating in water with fingers up that was creepy me out,  found out 2 days later there was a kayaker missing on the sound.  We knew we were coming to a point were the markers were confusing and it was going to shallow up. When all of a sudden we emerged from the fog and it was blue sky and flat water.  We had made it to the Alligator River.  Drove a few more hours and anchored out for the night.  About30 minutes after we anchored we heard Navy jets and they were flying low.  Come to find out we were right in the path of their practice bombing range.  For an hour or more we had jets flying low to the boat, we did not mind,  it was quite impressive.  next day we headed up the Pungo river  and onto the Neuse River to Oriental north carolina. free docks there no power or water but free.  on our starboard we had huge shrimping boats getting ready for fishing and on our port the town of oriental.  we were picking up our mail here.  i have to say we felt very welcomed here someone even drove us to the post office. stayed in oriental for 2 1/2 days bad weather we were expecting, gale force winds we stayed put.  sat in a coffee shop, the bean, and received tons of advise and local knowledge from men and women that have been cruising for years.  what a great experience, it was warm in there too, no heat on boat, so we stayed a long time.  left oriental during very windy conditions and headed back across the neuse river.  it was only 4 miles but 20 to 25 mph winds were coming from the northeast and we had 4 and 5 foot rolling waves, about 3 seconds apart, hitting us on port.  it is an adventure!

hey everyone hope all of you had a good thanksgiving.

we had an interesting weather week in portsmouth.  Monday it was gray and cloudy walked up town did a little shopping at the dollar general and then laid around as my arm was hurting badly.  dr told me to take it easy.  just cleaned up some stuff on the boat.  Tuesday it was spitting rain it was just annoying.  Wednesday morning about 3 a.m a full blown noreaster hit and the boat was jerking and rolling and shaking, driving rain and 40 mph wind gusts.  it was bad enough at the dock but we saw one boat that was moored out and he was swinging side to side and rolling around.  he ended up coming into the marina on thanksgiving.  how do i know this you ask?  i will tell you in a minute!

also on Wednesday i went to dr. top get my stitches out and get a new cast.  we called a cab to take us as the weather was horrible.  At 1:00 we get to see Dr. 3 hours later we are finally done because the dr and the cast lady cannot decide what kind of cast i should get, because we were leaving on Saturday to continue our trip. anyway 2 casts later x rays and getting stitches removed lets just say it was a painful process.

 We left portsmouth this morning, thank you again to the Tidewater Marina staff who were so great during our stay.
 As we motored out of the marina we are now on mile marker 1 of the ICW. yippee! The boat slides effortlessly through the area where all the battleships and carriers are being refitted in Norfolk, it left me feeling in awe of the massive size of those vessels and the military personnel that is needed to keep them in top working condition   the scenery changed from city and navy yards to sea grass and pine trees it was a good weather day today sunny and cool. we went through several bridges and a lock.

when we arrived in chesapeake virginia we made sure everything was tied up and settled. we walked to local grocery store with our backpack to carry all our goodies back to boat.  We ran into the guy from portsmouth who was moored out during the noreaster.  he was in same isle as us and i said to him "you must be a sailor" he said how did you know?  well he had a backpack and a boat U.S hat on. his name is gary, first light is his boat a cal 34. he is also headed south. he had engine problems too and he told us some good stories.  sometimes you just need to say hi to people, everyone has a story. we will run into him again i am sure.   until next tme.

today has been pretty productive with the help of the marina crew here we managed to get the boat over to the pump out and get it back in our slip.  joe has his butt up in air, not a bad view from here, looking at the engine and making sure we had no new issues.  the temperature is about 60 out expecting 75 tomorrow maybe some rain.  gonna kick back and watch football, my favorite, and elevate my injured wing. i did do dishes from breakfast earlier too it took fooooooooreeeeeeever one handed.  i think i will let joe do them from now on.  i have been hearing the sounds of the tug boat horns all morning they are very active today.  when you are not used to hearing that it is a great sound.  the sounds of boats in the harbor, its the best.

I know it has been a few days since I wrote.  but i have been a little preoccupied.  Excuse the typing and no caps i am typing one handed.  we finally got the boat repairs completed on Monday went in and paid the bill came back to boat just really happy to be shoving off again.  i went to step onto boat and caught my toe on toe rail, kinda ironic, fell forward onto boat and immediately knew i had broken something.  i yelled for joe over the engine and told him i think i broke something.  well i had, so we got some help from the great people here at Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth.  they took me to local emergency room and yep i found out that i had broken my left radius bone right next to the wrist joint.  it is broken in a very bad angle and place so i was admitted to hospital and was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday.  so on Tuesday afternoon i went to surgery and i now have long pin and 4 screws imbedded in my left radius bone and wrist that are permanent.  i am sure i will have trouble at airport for rest of my life.  anyway i have a 6 inch incision and about 12 stitches and a hard cast over it.  Dr. Brillhart is going to see me Wednesday before Thanksgiving to take this cast off and remove the stitches and put a new cast on he will then evaluate how i am doing.  i feel fairly good not a lot of pain but it is a pain to take a shower, can't tie my shoe laces or open a pill bottle.  best part is i can't do dishes, woop woop!   Joe has been awesome through this whole crappy week.  he is such a good man.
 after i see dr. again we will most likely leave here on Saturday Nov 28 and continue on our way down the icw.  we are at mile marker zero right now.  the rest of way to Georgia is motoring so no sails up for a while.
Portsmouth is not a bad place to be laid up.  downtown and other places are within walking distance of marina. Norfolk naval yards are right across the river and we can hear the tug boat whistles every morning.  We have also seen some pretty awesome looking sailboats and cruising power boats, had an 80 footer pull in right next to us a few nights ago.  tonight they are having a lighting of the Christmas lights downtown and a parade.  lots of events going on right now.

i would like to say that my injury is nothing compared to what my dear friend Kathy Kane is going through.  our best prayers and good wishes go out to her for a complete recovery. We love you Kathy.

November 14, 2014

Tuesday we finished the last part of Chesapeake Bay under washing machine conditions, 2 to 3 foot swells on our stern and a nagging misting rain.  To  save a little fuel we put up the jib, since the wind was to our stern it did not hold wind well so we put up the main and did a broad reach shut down the engine and achieved 4.0 to 4.5 knots.  Later in day as we were coming into Hampton Virginia to anchor for the night, we used a handy cruisers guide and we found free public mooring across from the Hampton Maritime Center.  They were most helpful and we thank them for the $1.00 showers and laundry facilities.  Met some fellow cruisers, Michael and Diane, they have a big Hunter and have been sailing up and down the ICW for 11 years from New Jersey to Miami.  We stayed in Hampton for the day and enjoyed the beautiful weather we had at 68 degrees here so we hung out with the other cruisers, ran into Balia again too, they all gave us a lot of cruising tips.  We went to the IMAX at the Virginia Air and Space Museum and watched Interstellar with them on Wednesday evening. Said good bye to Hampton on Thursday morning.   Cloudy skies wind on our stern again blowing about 20 knots, engine started overheating 2 hours out so we shut her down and had two parts broke joe tried to fix them but we ended up calling a tow boat and had them bring us to the Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth, Virginia.   They were waiting for us at the dock when we were towed in and Ralph the maintenance chief here showed up about 1/2 hour later. Some rum and Irish whiskey were consumed as a result of our day.  Here we sit waiting, Ralph already replaced one part today and we are waiting for the other one he ordered to show up.   Tidewater Marina is an absolutely immaculate well run marina they have taken very good care of us.  Breaking news a huge yacht, 52 foot triple decker, "Princess T" , "T" for TONS of money, just pulled into next slip.  Oh My!!! What a pretty boat.
Will we ever get to the ICW????

We arrived in Solomons on Thursday Nov 5, boat was in good order. We have spent the last 3 days getting her ready to get underway.  Yesterday we met a fellow sailor in West Marine, Jay, his wife is Cindy, they sail a Catalina 42, Balia. They recently have been through the great lakes and are now headed down the coast and on to the Bahamas.  They cruise every winter.  We look forward to running into them again as I am sure they will have some good stories to tell.
We decided yesterday to leave at 0 dark thirty Monday morning.  Unfortunately we got up to leave and there is a thick coastal fog, like peanut butter,  just waiting it out for an hour or so.  It is starting to lift as the sun comes out.  Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day for the first leg of our journey.

I will post pictures as soon as we get out to the boat.

My name is Mary Bartman my husband, Joe and I got the sailing itch about 9 years ago and we never looked back. It all started on a trip to the British Virgin Islands for our 25th anniversary in 2005.  We had booked a trip on a Windjammer Barefoot cruise for a week.  Standing on the bow one day Joe says," I always wanted to learn how to sail."  Well I never knew this in all the time we had been married.  So when we got home he started searching the internet and found a Colgate sailing course offered  at a sailboat show in Chicago so he signed us up.  Did I mention it was in January!  We go to this sailing class, a book learning course, later to be practically applied on a boat.  Joe was really soaking in all this information about points of sail and sheets and all that sailing jargon and I was sitting there lost.  I did get some of it but I have a little Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) if I sit too long, I started to space out during some of the course. After the class we wandered down to the boat show and started talking to people showing the boats.  We stopped by one place and he asked us where we were from.  Well we live in central Illinois not much sailing activity goes on here.  He suggested we check out a sailing club in Carlyle Illinois that has an open house every year in June.  We kind of looked around for a boat once in a while during the winter.  In the spring we got our 15 foot power boat out did the Illinois river a couple of times.  When June came we headed to Carlyle lake with our camping gear for this open house.  We get to Carlyle Sailing Association and sign in for our free sailboat ride.  Everyone was so friendly and nice and we just kept getting on different boats all day long.  Had some lunch with some wonderful people and had a great time.  We see that they are offering a sailing course on boats the next week so  Joe signs us up. 
We come down the next week take the sailing course for 3 days, now some of that book stuff we learned in Chicago starts to make sense.  By the 3rd day we were jibing and tacking and I actually was having fun until I forgot to duck and got hit in head with the boom twice.  Well my instructor Bill Clark asked me if I was O.K. and I was crying because it hit me just right on the head and made me cry.  I think Bill probably thought  this one is never going to come back sailing. And my ADD had kicked in too.  We went home after 3 days of sailing had some relatives in town for the week so we took them down to the river on our power boat. Skiing and tubing we had a lot of fun.  When we got back to the house we looked at each other and said man that was noisy not like sailing.  The very next day we put the power boat up for sale, sold it to the guy across the street from us two days later and starts searching for our first sailboat.