Lockwood Marina, Raritan River, New Jersey

With much deliberation and help from our knowledgable friends and locals, we decided to get the boat hauled out.  We had originally planned to do this, anyway, since we had our watermaker shipped to Corbet and Robin's house in Bradley Beach.  We met the Monicas in Rum Cay, Bahamas.  Wade's brother, Leigh,  said that we must have a homing device planted on us since Hurricane Irene seemed to follow our trail from the Bahamas all the way up the East Coast precisely landing in each and every location that we had just visited or passed by.
We worked hard stripping the boat and dismanteling the 5 solar panels which just fit through the companionway and into our boat.  Wade had to take off the sails and the forestay (and then later put it back on), chart plotter and bimini and we had to stow everything away and tie everything down.

Well, then we took refuge with Robin and Corbett who took in all the strays.  We defied all odds and barbequed on the front porch, had a Hurricane Feast along with Pete's Beach Juice which gave us the courage to bring on the Catagory 4.  

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!  Irene!!!!!!!!

(overdramatization just like the news)

Well, the Catagory 4 turned into a Catagory 1 which seemed like the average Tropical Storm encountered almost daily in the rainy season in Costa Rica. But there were gusts around 68 mph and there were, sadly, deaths due to falling trees.  But it was nothing compared to snow storms endured in Canada.  So Wade and I survived our first hurricane!  I even went surfing the next day!

BRADLEY BEACH

Cape May, N.J.

Exhausted after another 3 day and night trip we snuggled into Cape May and WE GOT CRABS (again) and ate ourselves silly at the Lobster House.  Day 2 we took the trolley downtown and to the beach; a nice reprieve since we had another overnighter to the North end of Jersey.

Beaufort, NC

We had all kinds of weather and experiences between Charleston and Beaufort.
Smooth sailing and dolphin shows turned into The Perfect Storm!
Wade was calm at the helm and I was praying that I would see my first Grandchild.
We were exhausted and finally happy to make our way in to Beaufort to get some sleep.

We indulged ourselves at the oyster bar after playing tourist at the Maritme Museum which boats a lovely library and exhibition of Blackbeard who "went down" here in Beaufort around 1783.  The bookstores here are excellent for sailing and marine books of all kinds and Wade finally found the coveted Skipper Bob Guide book to Anchorages and the most useful of tips for Cruisers.

At sunset we dingies to Carrot Island and saw the wild horses and took a stroll on an estuary board walk through a sanctuary.  The sun was going down huge and red, lighting up the fresh water river on which we are anchored, right in front of Beaufort Mansions.

Glad to be off the unpredictable Atlantic we will have a few days on the ICW. Today we will leave for Oriental.

Charleston SC- 3 days. 3 nights later

Finally out of "Dodge" we get cruising at 11 knots, best ever!   Things go well staying ahead of a heat-meeting-heat tropical storm.  Or so we think.  Enjoying lunch and kicking back with 20 knots powering our sails we get hit with a 30 + gust of wind.  Lunch gets tossed....hell, we nearly get tossed.  Wade jumps to action to bring in the sails and I put everything inside and bring all the survival stuff outside.  We get the life jackets on for the first time and even attach the life lines and then I puke up lunch.  We get tossed over 5 foot waves for the rest of the afternoon, my stomach hurts, I'm dehydrated and shaking....not a pretty picture.  The weather brightens up and the waves completely die and the luck returns, again and we hook a tuna.  We plan tuna burgers for dinner and sushi for brunch the next day.  The night comes on damp and this turns on the bronchitis again.  No joy... We get to the channel at 4:30 a.m., snooze and come in to  Charleston on a beautiful and, of course, windless day.

Charleston begs us to venture out and stretch our legs.  We go to book stores, candy stores (Wade buys $21.oo worth of candied Pralines) and stroll past tiny cobble stone lanes and the rich architecture of this old harbor city.  Bay Street, along the ocean, is lined with mansions built with a smaller street frontage with the length of the house a block long to the backside.  Windows have shutters on the outside and undraped so that on-lookers can see fireplaces and chandeliers in the vast spaces of the interior.  Every house has a gas lamp lit everynight, possibly by the lamplighter who lives within one of the quarters of these huge single dwelling homes.

Leaving Miami

Good bye to all our friends whom like Bill, Carol and Randy, became our family.  Great hospitality and good times!  Honest, we're leaving....we're almost gone!  Honest!

A gang of "perspircacity"!