11/6/16
Charleston SC
Position 32 46.722N, 079 57.228W
Posted by Bill

Well, the last 2 weeks have been pretty crazy. After the hurricane we headed to Cincinnati to my Mom’s memorial service. It was nice to see all of the family, but a sad time for everyone. Then we headed back with 1 week left to finish all of our boat projects and get the boat provisioned (liquor, groceries and spare parts). The good thing was, the weather has been absolutely beautiful since the hurricane. I kept running into set backs with the boat projects, not having the right tools or all of the parts, and I found several other projects that needed to be done while working on the list. The weekend before we left, I finished installing the wind generator, changed the oil in the engine, changed the fuel filter, rebuilt the head (toilet) in the bathroom in our cabin. During the install of the wind generator I found 3 other things that I also got done. 1) The packing gland needed to be adjusted where the prop shaft comes through the hull. This is a normal maintenance item, but requires working in a very small area with corroded hardware. It took forever! I realized after several hours that I had to replace the packing material. This is usually done with the boat out of the water because the packing keeps water from coming in to the boat where the shaft comes in. Having never done this in the water, I wasn’t sure how much water would rush in before I could complete the process, so I was apprehensive. I talked to the maintenance manager at the marina to make sure he could rescue us if something went wrong, and then took it on. It was a manageable amount of water and other than the difficulty of working in the small area the project went well. It took much longer than expected on a project that wasn’t even on the radar. 2) While working on the packing gland, I noticed that the bolts that hold the prop shaft to the transmission were all very loose. This is not good at all and could have resulted in a major issue had they come completely loose or sheared off, so they got tightened up. 3) While running wire for the wind generator, I noticed that the hose which drains the propane locker was cracked and leaking water directly on to the battery charger/inverter…NOT GOOD!!! Fortunately I caught it before there was any major damage or a fire. Replacing this hose was a major pain in the ass. You have to crawl under the chart table and work through a door that is about 18″ square, in an area that is full of wires. Doing most of the work requires you to contort yourself in positions your body doesn’t bend, and feel blindly through the process because you can’t look while you work. In the mean time, Tricia was re-inventorying everything stored below, getting groceries, and organizing everything. She is amazing at doing that, and it is extremely important to be organized and have everything stowed properly. The week before shoving off also included a run to Myrtle Beach for liquor and groceries, and a run to Wilmington for Costco, Trader Joes, and Harbor Freight. Those took one day each. I don’t know how we got it all done, but we were exhausted.

We took on fuel and shoved off on 11/1, and stopped in the Little River inlet for the first night, position 33 52.321N, 078 34.191W. We are traveling with Matt and Shirley on Sofia Jeanne, and Larry and Diane on Horizon 2. We rafted together on anchor and had a great time making dinner and enjoying cocktails on the hook. We rafted to Sofia Jeanne because they now have the best anchor…a Rocna. That anchor is amazing, sticking right away, resetting quickly in a tide change, and holding all 3 boats. We took turns making dinner for the first 3 nights and the first night was Matt and Shirley. When they started to make dinner, the propane solenoid stopped working, which stops the flow of propane to the stove…go figure. Fortunately, Tricia insisted we buy a spare, and after much difficulty Matt had it in place and started dinner. At the same time, I noticed an engine hose starting to show signs of a leak and had to borrow their rescue tape to keep it from developing further. This is the benefit of friends and traveling together!
Us at the anchorage:

The next night we stopped at a really nice anchorage called “the hill” which was about 3/4ths the way to Georgetown SC. It was really beautiful. Position 33 30.887N, 079 08.625W. Here is a picture of the hill:

On the 3rd day we anchored in Awendaw Creek, at position 33 02.069N 079 32.403W.

On the 4th day we stopped at Isle of Palms Marina just outside of Charleston, at position 32 48.379N, 079 45.618W, so that we could arrive the next day in Charleston during slack tide. The currents in the rivers in Charleston are wicked and very difficult to dock in, so we always try to get there and leave at slack tide (no current before the tide change). We partied with our friend Terry who lives there and enjoyed being in a marina after 3 days on the hook (this means real showers!). Yesterday we came in to Charleston City Marina close to slack tide, position 32 46.722N, 079 57.228W, and then went downtown for happy hour, hitting several of our favorite spots. If you follow the blog, you know that Charleston is our favorite city on the east coast. We are never disappointed! We usually dock at the Charleston Maritime Center on the east side of downtown, but the hurricane caused enough damage that it is still not open, and we got reservations at the city marina. This is called the Mega-Dock and rightly so. It is around 40 acres of dock on the west side of the city. Look at it in satellite mode of Google Maps. It is a little further away from the places we normally go but still not too far. They also have a courtesy shuttle. Here is the view from one end of the Mega-Dock:

There are dozens of huge yachts here. The amount of money on the docks boggles your mind. Here is one of the cool sailing vessels:

We have seen quite a bit of hurricane damage as we get further south. It will be interesting to see Hilton Head and the surrounding area, as they were particularly hit hard. Today we work on boat maintenance and tomorrow we start south again. We are taking it easier than normal and traveling around 40 statute miles per day instead of our usual 50 to 60 miles. It has been nice getting to an anchorage late afternoon versus dusk and relaxing more. Unfortunately Larry and Diane are heading back to Southport and not continuing south with us. They are fun and we will miss them! Here we all are at Isle of Palms:

9/30/16
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

This past weekend several of us on D dock took our boats up to Wilmington for a few days. We had 6 boats in the flotilla. We were going to stop at an anchorage on the Cape Fear River on the way up on Thursday, but the weather was supposed to be nasty and we opted for a party on the dock instead. Friday we timed the tide, as the currents can be very nasty in the Cape Fear River, and made the trip in about 4 hours. Here are a couple of pictures along the way:

We docked on the river in front of the Hilton Hotel. Wilmington has a great riverfront area, with lots of bars and restaurants. We hit the Copper Penny for happy hour/dinner on Friday:

On Saturday we hit the farmers market and attempted a pub crawl. We only made it to 2 places. The second place was the Duck and Dive, a popular dive bar that had great drink prices and a fun atmosphere. We played darts (boys vs. girls) and watched football all afternoon. The boys got their asses kicked in darts…unfortunately:

Then we did happy hour and had a cookout on the dock:

It was a great time! This was also the first time we had our boat off the dock since we landed in Southport in May, so we really enjoyed being on the water again.

As we headed back down the river on Sunday, we decided to take a detour and go to Carolina Beach for the night. They have a mooring field that is 2 blocks from the beach and is close to several restaurants and bars. It was a beautiful day, both days we were there, and we didn’t even put the dinghy down to go ashore. We just relaxed on the boat and enjoyed being “on the hook”. I so much prefer anchoring or tied to a mooring versus marinas and it was a real treat. Carolina Beach was a favorite of my moms, as she went there as a kid many times, and it was our first introduction to the beach and ocean when we were kids. It was good to reflect on everything and just listen to the sound of the waves on the beach. Our view:


This is a great mooring field, well protected, and the moorings are in very good shape. The guy who owns them comes around and takes trash and he was really helpful. Highly recommended.

Monday, it was back home and starting on boat projects again. We are about 4 weeks from leaving to go south, and the pressure of getting everything done is starting to mount!

9/18/16
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

We always watch the weather like a hawk. Weather is the single biggest factor that affects life on a boat. Tropical developments, i.e. tropical depressions, tropical storms, hurricanes, are obviously very problematic and we pay very close attention to those. The latest attention getters have been Tropical Storm Julia, and Tropical Storm Karl. Julia dumped rain on us all day on Friday and then meandered off the coast of South Carolina. The weather has been beautiful this weekend, but it is looking like Julia is finally moving, and eyeing North Carolina.
It is forecast to stay a tropical depression, so winds will stay under 40 knots…fingers crossed.

Karl is forecast to become a Hurricane this week and take a turn to the north, passing close to Bermuda.

If this holds true, it will pass well offshore of us…again…fingers crossed.

We will stay here in the protection of Southport Marina until November first, when hurricane season officially ends, and then see how the tropics are behaving before we leave to head south. The only schedule we have for our trip south this winter is dock reservations at Key West from December 15 to January 15th. We had to put a significant down payment that is non-refundable to get those reservations, so we will do our best to get there. Other than that…we go as the weather lets us.

7/25/16
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

The last week was full of fun stuff for us. We had a run over the the secluded beach again, this time trying to do some fishing as well as wallowing. The mullet (bait fish) have started to appear and we thought we could catch some in the surf and fish off the beach. Alas, the mullet were somewhere else, so we settled for wallowing.

The next day we went fishing on our friends, John and Mary Ann, boat. They have a 1960 Merit. An all wood boat that was built specifically for sport fishing off shore. The boat is immaculate, and is a joy to drive. They win awards at the wooden boat show every year. We went about 40 miles off shore and had 5 lines in the water as we trolled along. The ocean was really calm and it was a beautiful day on the water. It was fun to travel at over 20 knots, and in 2 1/2 hours we were as far as it takes us almost a full day to travel in the sail boat! Tricia reeled in all 3 of the fish we caught, first a Mahi Mahi:

Then an Amber Jack:

And lastly a Barracuda, that we thew back. Mary Ann wasn’t able to go, but we had a great time with John. He and Tricia tended to the fishing and I drove the boat. It was a good day on the water.

The day after, we made a dinghy trip to the sandbar to wallow, and then rode over to Bald Head Island.

We have also been having some great get-togethers on the dock and at Matt and Shirley’s house. We have been eating and drinking very well! There has been some work as well. Tricia used a boat cover that was in the trash, and made some covers for our jerry jugs (diesel fuel and gasoline).

They get brittle over time when exposed to the sun, so this will help them last longer. She also used the material to make a bag for our dinghy anchor, so it won’t scratch the finish on the floor of our new dinghy.


She is awesome! We also sent her up Matt’s mizzen mast to bring down parts of the wind generator, and then take them back up after repairs. Boat wakes from passing boats in the ICW caused the boat to roll quite frequently, and it didn’t make it easy for her.

We also received the bulk of the parts for 2 big additions to the boat: a Marine Kinetix wind generator, and a water maker (to make fresh water from sea water while in the Keys and Bahamas). I need to get some more parts and will get busy, probably after our trip north in August.

7/17/16
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

Well, it has been a few weeks since the last post. We survived the hectic 4th of July festival and had a 4 day long party on the dock! Wore us out!!! It has been so hot here that it has been difficult to motivate ourselves for boat projects outside, but we have been chipping away at it. Also, we have been looking at and negotiating real estate here in downtown Southport. It has been taking all of our time. More on that in a future post.

One of the fun things we did was going to a 7 mile secluded beach on the ocean…yes, amazing that one still exists on the eastern US coast. You have to take a small boat (like our great new dinghy, which we love) through a series of back creeks to get to the back side of the beach, and it is not well known. I was sworn to secrecy before the track through the creeks was divulged to me, and I had to record it on a GPS so I could find my way by myself later. It is absolutely beautiful and secluded. A ranger patrols it a couple of times a day, but the only way to get to it is by water. We have been there a couple of times, taking our chairs, swimming and wallowing. We are planning a fishing trip there this afternoon.

Mark and Jan, on the other Island Bound, arrived back here from there trip back home in Kentucky. We have been having fun with them on a regular basis, and had a great reunion dinner on their boat the other night. All we needed was Byrd Ketcher…we miss you guys!!!

Yesterday, we went to the wedding of the daughter of our good friends Mark and Jane. We met them in Marathon last year. They live here in Southport and also run the Southport Inn. They just built a house in a subdivision right on the Cape Fear River, and are friends with the people that own the Revenge House at the end of the subdivision road that dead-ends into the river. The Revenge House was the house that was used in the filming of the pilot for the TV series Revenge. Their daughter had the wedding ceremony and pre-reception gathering at the house, so we got to check it out. It was a really cool wedding, and the house was beautiful.

If you watched the show, you will remember a double infinity symbol that was carved into the railing on the back porch of the house. The film crew repaired the railing, but the owners got to keep the piece that had the symbol carved in:

Keep cool and enjoy the summer!!

6/28/16
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

Late last week we returned from our trip north. It was great to see our family at our nieces graduation. While at the lake house, we got to catch up with our good friends Mark and Irina…congrats on the up coming wedding…wish we could be there. We also got to visit with most of Tricia’s family, and spend a few days with our good friends John and Jen that live close to our house there. We had a dual wedding with them many years ago and got to celebrate our anniversary together, something we always enjoy.

As always, the plunge into what we call the “real world” was a shock. We are used to traveling at around 8 MPH in our boat, and when we ride around Southport, we don’t go over 45. Life on the freeways, especially in Columbus, was absolutely crazy. I still can’t believe that we dealt with that every day for so many years. Having a car and living in places that have a normal bath room, complete with flushing toilets that you don’t have to manage the waste for, and real showers that you don’t have to manage the water for, is really nice. We used to just take it for granted…now it is a treat. Also, having your own washer and dryer, sitting right there in your home, is a major treat. Dealing with laundry is a major pain when living aboard. In spite of the luxuries, we missed being on the water and I was happy to get back to Southport in general. It always feels like home when we return here.

We tried to get a few maintenance projects done on the lake house and ran into several unexpected roadblocks, so we will have to knock those out when we return in August. We have always kept our 1994 Jeep Wrangler in the garage up there, and having settled in Southport for the summers, we decided we would bring the Jeep back so we could have our own car. We still prefer to walk, but having your own car here adds a whole new dimension to living here. The Jeep only has 40,000 miles on it, but it is rarely used, and I was concerned that we would not be able to drive it back for 12 hours without it breaking down. Given that, I scheduled an appointment with an automotive repair place for a thorough inspection, a few days before we were going to head south. As I was driving it the day before the appointment, the brakes were locking up and it would not move…bummer. We had it towed and ended up having to replace the entire brake system. The difficulty in getting parts set us back several days in our schedule, but we rolled with the punches. We stopped overnight in Columbus and then made it back to Southport in one day. The Jeep has a terrible ride, especially when you get above 50 MPH. It bounces all over the road and you have to literally wrestle the wheel to keep control. It also has no air conditioning. Needless to say, after 12 hours of driving it, your ass is kicked! The good thing is…we made it without incident:

Yesterday was a good example of why having a car adds a whole new dimension to living here. We drove to Myrtle Beach (about an hour drive) and went to Sams Club, and Costco, to buy liquor. South Carolina has cheaper liquor, and Sams and Costco have even better prices. We stocked up and saved more than $10 per bottle over North Carolina or Ohio prices. Our friend Andy was visiting his parents in North Myrtle Beach, so we got to have lunch with them and catch up. Also, we won’t have to borrow a car to go to the grocery or to the beach (about 10 minute drive), or to get fresh seafood. The down side is that it makes life a little more complex: car maintenance, a place to store it when gone, towing insurance, and all of the associated expense of running a car.

The other “new dimension” change we made was the purchase of a new dinghy. If you remember, the old dinghy was leaking water badly, and we just made it back to Southport before it became pretty much unusable. We purchased a Highfield aluminum hull dinghy. It weighs a little more than our old one, but it is in a whole other league as dinghies go. I got it commissioned the day before we left to go north, so we only got one test run in it. Since we got back, we have run it several times, once across the Cape Fear River to the sand bar that we wallow at, and it is fantastic. The ride is very dry, and it can handle rough water, including boat wakes, very well. We could only use the old dinghy in fairly calm seas and it was almost always a wet ride, even before it started leaking. This adds a whole new dimension to cruising and living on the water here in Southport. I’ll post a separate post about it for the benefit of fellow cruisers looking for information about dinghies.

Southport is getting ready to the big July 4th celebration. The festivities here run all week and it is the state of North Carolina July 4th festival, so it is crazy around here…thousands of visitors, and a fun time. You can see last year’s post of the festivities if you search the blog. Happy 4th everyone!!

6/6/16
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

It has been a few weeks since we arrived in Southport and since I’ve posted anything. Since I have posted so much about Southport last year, you will probably not see much posting for a bit unless something interesting happens. We got settled in shortly after our arrival here, hit most of our favorite haunts and places to eat, caught up with our friends here, and took to property hunting post haste. We looked for property here the last 2 years, and since the real estate market here is hot as fire, we knew we had to hit it hard right away. We have tried to make offers on several properties but have not been able to strike a deal yet. We will keep trying. We also started to attack the project list and have been able to get a few things checked off. True to form for the year, the weather has been a little crazy (2 tropical storms so far), and that has put a damper in our work schedule as well as our typical routines here in the marina (think fishing and watching the wildlife). The marina is now so popular that all of the slips are taken, including the ones at the end of our D dock where we used to sit and fish and watch the wild life, a major bummer. Last night the large cruising boat at the end of D dock left for a few days at Holden Beach, so we got our prime dock space back. Greg and I (mostly Greg) jumped in his fishing skiff and caught some bait fish, and we had a flounder catching tournament. We almost caught 2 skates, and also pulled up 3 crabs that had clipped on to our bait, but no flounder. We also got a good view of the boats coming in and out of the marina, like this beauty:

It is fun to see the number and kinds of boats that move in and out. Southport marina is a major cross roads on the ICW and the Cape Fear River, so there is a lot of transient traffic moving in and out.

This Thursday we are renting a car and driving up north to attend the graduation festivities of our niece Elise. All of the Wehmer side of the family is going to be there and we are excited to see everyone. Our kids and grand kids are coming, so it will be extra special. Then we are going to evaluate selling our house on Lake Erie. No one in the family is using it, and we only get there for about a month each year, so we will take a hard look at selling. If you know anyone who wants a place at the lake, let us know! Then we intend to swing by Akron to visit Tricia’s parents, and through Columbus for a short visit with our friends, kids, grand kids and Mark and Diane. We will need to get back to Southport to deal with everything we have going on there, so it will only be a week or so visit up north.

5/22/16
Southport NC
Position: 33 55.089N, 078 01.719W
Posted by Bill

On the 18th, we upped anchor and headed for Myrtle Beach. We had the current with us the entire day and made fantastic time, so we blew past Myrtle Beach and anchored at the Little River Inlet on the North Carolina border. Position: 33 52.351N, 078 34.205W

The next day we only had to go 33 statute miles to Southport. We had several shoal areas to transit, including the last inlet on the trip: Lockwoods Folley Inlet. I read several comments on Active Captain about the inlet and the gist seemed to be: When you get to the inlet, ignore a red buoy and head far to the left to have deep water. We got the the inlet at almost dead low tide, and as I started to move to the far left, we ran up on a sand bar. I was able to back off and get back to deep water, and we decided not to ignore the red buoy, and go around it before we went far left. No problems after that. I am still not sure how I misinterpreted the Active Captain comments, but no one was hurt, including the boat, so all is good. We pulled into our slip at Southport Marina around 2:30 PM, concluding our cruising season. It was great to see all of our friends again, and Matt and Shirley threw a welcome home party last night at their new house (which is absolutely amazing). Matt made a mexican feast and everyone partied heartily. We have also hit some of our favorite places already…like Provision Company. Here we are with Mark and Jan, and Matt and Shirley:

We will be traveling back to Ohio a couple of times this summer. I also have a 2 page list of projects that need to be completed before we go south again in the fall, so we will be pretty busy.

This cruising season, we traveled 2,216 nautical miles, 2,551 statute miles. Since we started cruising, we have traveled 5,699 nautical miles, 6,560 statute miles.